Governor answers questions about Chicago’s budget deficit

(The Center Square) – Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker says Chicago officials have not approached him about the city’s budget deficit.

Reporters in Chicago repeatedly questioned the governor about the city’s projected deficit of nearly $1 billion

The governor was asked about Mayor Brandon Johnson’s suggestion that the state needs to invest more in Chicago’s public schools.

“I’m the first person to want to put dollars into education. If we had extra money, it would go to education. But remember, Chicago is 20% of the population of Illinois. When we put money into education, it’s got to go to the other 80%, also,” Pritzker answered.

The governor dismissed the notion of a possible rift between him and Mayor Johnson.

“The mayor and I actually get along very well. There are challenges that we both have, dealing with making sure we balance our budgets,” Pritzker said.

Pritzker suggested that the state could only do so much to help Chicago solve its financial issues.

“The state of Illinois provides billions of dollars to the city of Chicago every single year and we’re going to continue to do that, but we can’t just snap our fingers. We don’t print money at the state level. As you know, they do at the federal level, but at the state level we can’t do that. We just have to make sure we’re getting through these difficult times,” Pritzker explained.

The governor said his administration has faced challenges at the state level.

“We’ve managed sometimes through tough times. You may remember mid-year (2020-21) we had to cut $700 million from our budget because, frankly, revenues were going off a cliff during COVID,” Pritzker said.

The cuts announced by the governor in December 2020 came less than two months after he rejected calls to ease the state’s pandemic-related restrictions on residents and businesses.

Pritzker said he would introduce his next budget in February.