Kane County Reporter

Sen. Dave Syverson (R-Rockford) recently made a statement on Gov. JB Pritzker's State of the State Address where he proposed a new budget.

Pritzker’s state budget totals $112.5 billion, according to Patch.com. Of that, $45.5 billion would be from the state’s general revenue fund and the rest is federal funds.

"The governor is talking about this massive increase in revenue that the state saw like he had something to do with it," Syverson said. "As we know, most of this is one-time federal money that is coming into the businesses and to taxpayers but that's all ending, yet the governor's budget proposes a $2.5 billion increase in spending based on that money continuing forever.

Public employee pensions are a big part of the budget, according to Patch.com.

"That's just not going to work. We're going to end up with a massive cliff after the election that unfortunately taxpayers are going to get stuck with. We need the government to live within their means just like you and I as taxpayers have to."

The proposed funding for public employee pension totals $9.6 billion with an excess $500 million infusion. The proposal also includes $135 million in annual gas tax, $360 million in grocery tax, and $475 million in property tax rebates, according to Patch.com.

The Department of Children and Family Services would receive a budget increase of 15%, totaling $1.8 billion in state funds, with federal funds from the American Rescue Plan Act for the Illinois Department of Human Services totaling $5.25 billion, according to Patch.com.

Syverson wasn't the only Republican member critical of Pritzker's proposal.

"Money from COVID, that's what he's going to be using to quote-unquote kind of patch the budget instead of doing the real fundamental reforms that need to take place in this state," Senate Minority Leader Dan McConchie (R-Hawthorn Woods) said, according to Patch.com.