A handful of mayors stood alongside Governor Bruce Rauner this morning to pressure lawmakers to approve a temporary state budget. The idea is to get a full year of school spending authorized, plus a half years' worth of funding for basic government operations. Rockford Mayor Larry Morrissey says passing a stopgap is vital.
"It will move us forward. Albeit it's not a perfect solution, it's a solution that gets us past the November elections and hopefully puts us in the best possible position to avoid the damage that I think was done to the state, done to our ability to meet the expectations of our citizens and those who are most in need."
Legislators will meet in Springfield Wednesday, just days before the start of a new fiscal year. The Republican governor and General Assembly's Democrats were unable to reach a budget agreement all year, and there's no plan in place for the new one either.
Governor Rauner says there's a broad agreement on a six-month budget. But a continued dispute over education funding could hold things up.
