South Central Reporter

Republican state Sen. Jason Plummer has a warning for voters when it comes to Gov. J.B. Pritzker's financial policies.

The Governor’s Office of Management and Budget released a report estimating that, for the next five years, tax revenues are up and projected deficits are down. 

“The forecasted fiscal year 2023 shortfall was reduced from $2.9 billion, as estimated in 2019, to $406 million, and the 2024 shortfall was reduced from $3.2 billion, as estimated in 2019, to a deficit of $820 million,” the report said.

But Plummer sees a less positive picture.

“JB is woke and the state of Illinois is broke,” Plummer recently posted on Facebook. “If you thought our state's finances were bad a couple years ago, wait until all the federal money dries up. JB will be gone, and you'll be left holding the bag. This is complete negligence and I will continue to sound the alarm.”

A Center Square report claims experts believe the rosy projections bolstered by temporary federal funds. 

“Through sheer incompetence, or perhaps because he just cares about his time as governor and not the future of the people in Illinois, Gov. Pritzker is fumbling our recovery and making a bad fiscal situation much worse,” Plummer added on Facebook. “How they can trumpet these things with a straight face is amazing, and highlights how poorly the media covers our state's finances. The governor and his Democrat allies are blowing federal dollars, creating new programs that are not sustainable and neglecting to address the core problems that are crushing our state's economy and Illinois taxpayers.”

Pritzker steers clear of all such forecasts in a statement, saying, “With our partners in the General Assembly we’ve made tremendous progress in putting Illinois on the right fiscal path, supporting small businesses and creating good jobs in every part of our state.”

While a new Governor’s Office of Management and Budget report details how the governor continues to instruct agencies “to prudently mange operations,” Wirepoints President Ted Dabrowski said even more is needed.

“Even when you look out in the projections to the years three, four and five, we’re still running deficits of close to a billion dollars a year, as if that’s something good,” Dabrowsi told The Center Square.  “For individuals through stimulus checks, to the state government, local governments, $180 billion and that’s the only reason the tax revenues are up in Illinois,” Dabrowski said

This month, Plummer endorsed Steve McClure in the Senator's run for a new district, calling him a leader in the Republican Caucus.

Recently Plummer also publicly took on Cook County Circuit Court Clerk Iris Martinez in the ongoing debate over map redistricting, according to the South Central Reporter.

“You know the last round of hearings we had were basically boycotted by everyone in the state of Illinois essentially because no one trusts the committee, and they're kind of sick and tired of being fed false information, so I fully appreciate that you might trust the committee but really no one else does,” Plummer told Martinez during the Oct. 8 meeting. “So my question would be, not how much would you need, but since you've gone through this process in the past, what do you think is a reasonable amount of time between when maps are unveiled for the public to see and a vote would take place on the Senate?”