Speeches and statements, President Stanley O. Ikenberry, University of Illinois: "On January 5th I sent a letter to faculty and staff in Urbana-Champaign, Chicago, Springfield and elsewhere telling them we were taking a number of drastic steps in order to finish the academic year. As of December 31st we had an unimaginable and unprecedented $436 million in unpaid state invoices. We were, and still are, draining cash balances at an alarming rate. Our immediate concern was to be able to finish this academic year.
In response we cut faculty and staff pay by roughly 5 percent for the balance of the academic year through four furlough days. We cut the pay of senior administrators by about 10 percent for the balance of the fiscal year. We directed units to hold back 6 percent of their State budget. We froze hiring, including academic hires we really should be making. We have provided retirement incentives to trim the payroll. We have cut and will cut again administrative costs and are sending out letters of non-reappointment to staff.
Still, no amount of furloughs and budget cuts can make up for the absence of more than $760 million in direct State support."
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An excellent speech that tells you everything except why the people who run this state continue to destroy the place. As he says, Illinois is just about to become a second California.
1 comment:
How is it that one year after the gentleman from Illinois is elected to The White House that Illinois is in still in such deep debt? Has anyone told Dick Durbin what is going on in Illinois? Maybe Illinois will be the first State to receive a bailout. Where will that money come from? AIG? A new tax on the banking industry? The auto industry? The taxpayers?
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