Illinois Comptroller Susan Mendoza wrote an op-ed that just appeared widely throughout the state, titled “It’s governor’s job to present a budget.” She decried the Illinois budget “impasse” for the suffering she said it has caused people in the state, and called for the Governor to meet the legal deadline for him to present the proposed budget (tomorrow).
Trouble is, the budget process has been deeply flawed in Illinois for years, and one thing that doesn’t help this year is that the budget proposal deadline is once again arriving without a CAFR, an audited annual financial report, for the immediately preceding fiscal year.
Illinois annual budget process, flawed for other reasons, is once again flying while blind. The latest year for which state leaders have an audited set of financials on which to plan upon ended June 30, 2015 – a year that ended 595 days ago.
And it’s the Comptroller’s job to present a CAFR.