Thursday, Feb. 23, 2022
SPRINGFIELD –“I’ve been saying for a while now that I prefer 7’s to 6’s so I’ve been looking for today’s 7th credit rating upgrade from Standard & Poor’s,” Illinois Comptroller Susana A. Mendoza said. “This is a testament to the responsible budgeting we’ve done along with the Governor, the General Assembly and the Treasurer’s Office.”
S&P said the upgrade was due in part to Illinois “paying longstanding debts, rapid and early repayment of debts taken on during the pandemic-induced recession and transparent reporting both from the Comptroller and the Governor’s Office of Management and Budget.”
“Since I was elected more than six years ago, we have paid down our backlog of bills from $16.7 billion at the height of the budget impasse to an accounts payable of $2.2 billion today,” Comptroller Mendoza said. “We are shoring up the Rainy Day Fund and my Rainy Day Fund bill, HB2515/SB2443, which I hope to pass this session, will make regular payments into that fund and the Pension Stabilization Fund a regular requirement – hopefully ushering in more upgrades.”
Upgrades are good news for Illinois taxpayers because they lower the costs of bonds issued to fund infrastructure projects such as roads and bridges.
