SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (WMBD)– For the first time in 15 years, Illinois’ General Funds accounts payable are down to less than $1 billion.
According to an Illinois Comptroller press release, April tends to be the best month for Illinois fiscally as tax revenue comes in.
As of Monday morning, accounts payable stood at $941 million, the lowest it has been since 2008.
“Over the 6½ years I have been Comptroller, I have looked for every opportunity to steadily pay the state’s unpaid bills from a high of $16.7 billion – as a result of the budget impasse under a former governor – to where we have been for the past year, which has been generally less than $3 billion,” Comptroller Mendoza said. “That included refinancing some debt at a much lower interest rate and seeking out every opportunity for federal matching funds the state used to leave on the table.”
The steady repayment brought the state’s backlog of bills down to around $3 billion before a penny of the federal ARPA stimulus dollars landed in state coffers. The stimulus dollars went to pay the state’s COVID-related expenses.
