Inside:
- Budget being created, watchdog projecting shortfall
- Spike in electricity prices expected this summer
- Summer reading program coming to a library near you!
- National Small Business Week
State budget being created, watchdog projecting shortfall
House and Senate appropriations committees and budget working groups are hard at work taking testimony from state agencies and putting together a state budget for the fiscal year which begins on July 1. But we are doing so against the backdrop of a warning from the state’s fiscal watchdog agency, the Commission on Government Forecasting and Accountability (COGFA), which projects a budget shortfall and a slowing economy for the state.
COGFA released its 2026 Economic Forecast and Revenue Estimate earlier this year, just weeks after Governor Pritzker proposed the most expensive state spending bill in history. In their report, COGFA foresaw a $737 million state budget shortfall for next year. The problem, according to the nonpartisan agency, is weak private-sector job growth for Illinois in the coming months. The Governor based his budget plan on projections for employment which do not match those of leading economists, who expect slower job growth, and therefore slower growth in tax revenues.
“At this time, the Commission feels that a more cautious approach is warranted,” says the report, which goes on to cite a number of issues driving their concern, including national and international factors. At the state level, corporate income taxes are projected to be 12% lower than what was expected for this year, and receipts from sales taxes are also down by 3.3%. Illinois has underperformed the rest of the country economically for most of the last two decades.
In total, the shortfall would be $1.2 billion, but a series of hidden tax increases and one-time money transfers account for the difference. Illinois needs to take this kind of warning seriously and pass a realistic, truly balanced budget.
Spike in electricity prices expected this summer
Illinoisans can expect a summer electricity price spike according to a report from the power grid operator for most of Illinois, Midcontinent Independent System Operator (MISO).
The report looked at the price levels charged by peak-load electrical generation suppliers which supply electricity online during times of peak summer demand. Some of the peak-load electrical supply prices were as much as 22 times greater than last summer’s prices. The price levels reflect the continued withdrawal of coal-fired and other carbon-based electric generation from the supply picture of states in the Midwest. Governor Pritzker signed legislation in 2021 to move Illinois away from these sources of power and toward renewables and other new technology.
Ameren, which is the largest utility supplying power to many parts of central Illinois, warned customers that it expects to pay about 50% more this summer for electricity, with costs going from 8 cents per kilowatt hour up to 12 cents. As these costs are passed along, the average summer 2025 consumer electric bill will be somewhere between 18% and 22% higher than last year. The price hike will apply to the four-month period from June 1 until September 30.
With the end of the summer peak-demand period on October 1, the price structure from MISO will expire and the billing surcharges may be partly reduced.
Summer reading program coming to a library near you!
There is no greater gift you can give a child than the gift of literacy. The doors it opens and the possibilities it unlocks for a lifetime are endless. Conversely, young students who do not read at their grade level can fall farther and farther behind in school, leading to greater difficulties later in life.
The solution is obvious: read with your kids and encourage them to read as much as possible, especially during the summer months.
This summer I am inviting students from kindergarten up to fifth grade to participate in my summer reading program. Read at least eight books this summer, fill out an entry form and return it to my office, and you will be invited to an ice cream party at the end of summer vacation. You can find the form on my website, or at your local library.
Readers make leaders!
National Small Business Week
It’s National Small Business Week! Make sure you “shop small” to support the entrepreneurs who help our communities grow and thrive. Thank you to our Illinois small business owners for driving innovation, investing in our local economies, and making our state a better place.
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