On February 17, 2016, Governor Rauner released his second budget request. The fiscal year (FY) 2017 proposal includes $36.3 billion in the operating budget and $18.6 billion in the capital budget. The proposed operating budget represents a 2.8 percent increase over the FY15 level, while the proposed capital budget represents a 12 percent decrease compared to the enacted FY15 appropriation. Various budget documents prepared by the Governor's Office of Management and Budget are available online, including the capital budget and operating budget books.
The proposal includes a FY16 maintenance budget, a FY17 maintenance budget, and a FY17 recommended budget. Appropriations for the current 2016 fiscal year have only been partially enacted, with much of the state's current expenditures being paid pursuant to statutory continuing appropriations, consent decrees, and court orders. The FY16 maintenance budget includes enacted appropriations plus a listing of the supplemental appropriations that would be sufficient to fund state operations for the full year. The FY17 maintenance budget simply provides the amount sufficient to fund core agency operations and programs. The FY17 recommended budget includes adjustments that would mostly reduce expenditures. These adjustments are primarily a result of proposed policy changes for the state's retirement systems.
Regional mobility
The FY17 budget proposal would provide $2.9 billion in new operations appropriations for the Illinois Department of Transportation (IDOT). This represents a slight $50 million reduction from the FY16 "maintenance" level, due to management efficiencies within IDOT, but it is a $110 million increase from the FY15 enacted appropriation. Continuing the same practice as last year, the FY17 operations appropriation would not rely on the state's General Funds to support IDOT.
The FY17 operating budget detail would move the state's transit subsidy payments to the Regional Transportation Authority and Pace Paratransit from the Road Fund to the Public Transportation Fund. The operating budget would also provide $50 million to support Amtrak service in Illinois, a $12 million increase over the estimated FY16 expenditure and $8 million over the enacted FY15 appropriation.
The FY17 budget proposal would also provide $2.5 billion in new capital appropriations for IDOT, primarily drawn from the Road Fund and State Construction Account Fund. No appropriations would come from the state's General Funds. Most of IDOT's appropriations -- about $2.4 billion -- would come from pay-as-you-go sources, with the remainder to come from bond proceeds. According to the proposed FY17 capital projects list, the main line items for road construction total some $1.9 billion in new appropriations, a $150 million increase compared to FY16. This increase is attributable in part to the higher federal appropriation levels under the FAST Act, as well as the freeing up of old federal earmarks.
The capital projects list would include $18 million in FY17 to support development of new managed lanes on I-55 -- one of the original GO TO 2040 major capital projects -- through a public-private partnership, as well as $4 million to support the CREATE program. The projects list would provide no appropriations to the Illiana Expressway, which was amended into the GO TO 2040 plan's list of fiscally constrained projects in 2013.
Looking forward
CMAP will continue to monitor the General Assembly's development of the FY17 budget. CMAP's current state agenda and framework, approved by the Board at its February 2016 meeting, provide an outline for CMAP's stance on various state policy issues. The agenda notes the current budget impasse for FY16 and the resultant negative consequences on the state, region, and the agency itself. While the proposed FY17 budget would provide support for the state's metropolitan planning organizations (including CMAP) from the Road Fund, those funds are restricted to transportation-related activities and limit CMAP's ability to engage in comprehensive regional planning.