SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (AP) — Illinois is chasing a moving target as it tries to dig out of the nation’s worst budget crisis, and $7.5 billion worth of unpaid bills hadn’t even been sent to the official who writes the checks by the end of June.
The Associated Press obtained the review, conducted by Comptroller Susana Mendoza’s office. Although many of those unprocessed bills have since been paid, the office says a similar amount have replaced them. That’s in addition to $9 billion worth of checks that are at the office but being delayed because the state lacks the money to pay them.
The mound of past-due bills tripled over the two years Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner and Democrats who control the General Assembly were locked in a budget stalemate, which ended in July.
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