Progress Illinois

Even during the most contentious moments of the stalemate over the state budget this spring, one point that many lawmakers agreed on was that the federal stimulus package had provided state government with a lifeline. Without the $6.5 billion cash infusion, school budgets, roadway projects, and human services would have all but collapsed this year. And it turns out that Illinois was luckier than most. In the latest installment of the Recovery Tracker initiative, ProPublica reports that as of July 20, the Prairie State has snagged an average of $504 per person, making it the 13th-largest recipient of stimulus money nationwide. (The national average is $397 per person.)

As we've noted previously, an imbalanced formula for divvying up that transportation money put Illinois' most densely-populated areas at a disadvantage in netting the stimulus funds. Some figures that can be gleaned from ProPublica's analysis of county by county spending only confirms that unfortunate point; Cook County, for example, landed $112 per person for transportation projects, compared with downstate Stark County's $723. But while the process needs to be reformed, it's unquestionably good that any money is flowing into Illinois during the recession.

Of course, it's important to remember why Illinois is netting a large amount of subsidies. As Crain's pointed out yesterday, it's not because of luck or financial need. Ironically, it's because of poor governance:

Ironically, the state’s success stems largely from the legislative gridlock that has gripped the Capitol in recent years. Illinois got a bevy of transportation projects approved quickly because lawmakers’ prolonged failure to agree on a multibillion borrowing plan for infrastructure improvements had left the state with a large backlog of highway projects waiting for funding.

Illinois agencies fighting homelessness, who received a stimulus boost this year as well, are dealing with their own ironic problem. Because the legislature decided to play more shell games with the state budget -- gutting line items for homelessness prevention only to plug them with the stimulus resources -- some providers aren't sure if they will have any state aid when the federal dollars dry up. Chi-Town Daily News reporter Adrian G. Uribarri explains:

In early July federal officials promised more than $67 million in stimulus funds to prevent homelessness in Illinois. They saw it as a way to help families struggling with an unprecedented foreclosure crisis.

State officials, fresh from a battle to balance a $9 billion budget deficit, saw it as a golden opportunity to cut back. They slashed funding for similar programs by 78 percent, from $11 million last year to $2.4 million, relying on the feds to provide the rest. [...]

But advocates for struggling families face a worrisome question: What will happen when the stimulus funds run dry?

Since lawmakers are inexplicably dodging this question, anxiety among these organizations is understandably mounting. They deserve better.