budget

Illinois only has until the end of May to get a budget passed. So will we get the full-year balanced budget or another stopgap or impasse? Place your bets.

Rockford aldermen, looking for ways to generate revenue for a city that desperately needs it, have approved a budget that includes a utility tax on natural gas and electricity.

There's been a lot of ink spilled and voices raised over the topic of budget cuts and their effect on the Winnebago County Sheriff's office. This morning, Winnebago County Sheriff Gary Caruana joined us on the WROK Morning Show to give his thoughts.

So, have you got your holiday budgeting figured out? You know the drill: how much do I have to spend (assuming you don't want a credit card bomb to go off in your mailbox in January), and how much of it do I spend on the people on my gift list. It might be that your city of residence will help determine the answers.

So, a number of days ago, a stopgap budget was put together and signed in Springfield. The money goes toward funding education, road repair and construction, etc. Will any of that money be used to let Illinoisans know that they need to renew their license plate sticker? Maybe...but probably not.

It's been bad enough having a front-row seat for Illinois' budget standoff and the many problems that having no budget agreement has caused. Having the Daily Show's correspondent Jordan Klepper arrive with a camera crew to weigh in on the issue is helping to make us a national punchline.

We've written extensively in this space about Illinois' ongoing budget woes. A year without a spending plan in place, lack of, or extremely delayed payment of bills, worries over school closures and shortfalls, etc. Like I said, we've written about it, as have many others. Now, 43 Illinois mayors have written about it, too.

There's been a lot of talk over the last year about Illinois' lack of a state budget, and a lot of finger-pointing between the political parties over the continuing impasse. Very few things illustrate the disconnect between the majority and minority parties as well as an exchange between legislators after the Democrats in the House passed Speaker Madigan's 500-plus page, $7 billion out-of-balance

As you may be aware, this week the Illinois House passed a budget bill that is more than 7 billion dollars in the red.

Dave Dahl -- Illinois Radio Network Any Illinois Capitol-watcher who is pragmatic could say a vote on revenue must be bipartisan; otherwise, it could have and would have been done by now. The fiscal year began July 1, and spending – at a rate roughly similar to that of last year, when taxes were higher – continues for most state expenses and programs via court order, federal requirement, or consen