SPRINGFIELD – The absence of a state budget hasn’t kept Gov. Bruce Rauner’s administration and other Illinois agencies from hiring more workers.
According to Illinois comptroller records, 440 people were added to the payroll in August, more than the previous six-month average and an increase from the previous month. In July, 360 employees were hired, slightly less than the six-month average of 390 per month.
The new hires come as the governor moves to lay off some state workers by closing the Illinois State Museum and reducing funding at the Illinois Department of Agriculture.
Rauner spokeswoman Catherine Kelly told the Decatur Herald & Review that the new employees are replacing workers who have left the payroll.
“Any large organization with tens of thousands of employees has continuous turnover and the state of Illinois is no different,” she said in an email Thursday.
These increased hiring levels are adding to the concerns of the comptroller’s office, which is working to pay state bills in compliance with court orders and consent decrees that are helping to keep the state government open for business, according to officials.
“We are very concerned about not having a budget,” said Rich Carter, spokesman for Illinois Comptroller Leslie Munger. “We’re probably running a $5 billion to $6 billion deficit right now based on the current spending path.”
The recently hired employees range from high-profile officials, such as the new director of the Illinois Department of Corrections, to rank-and-file employees, such as a librarian for the Illinois Department of Juvenile Justice. They also include several interns who are working for the governor’s office for $31,000 per year from August to July.
Of the 440 hires in August, 166 of them were hired to work minimum wage, short-term jobs at the Illinois State Fair last month.
But not all of the new state workers are under the control of Rauner’s office. The treasurer’s office hired four employees, the attorney general added three, and the secretary of state’s office brought on 16 new people last month.
If the budget impasse’s goal is to shut down the state government, Republican state Rep. David Harris of Arlington Heights said, then it’s not working.
“We can’t even shut down government right,” Harris said. “It’s a weird, crazy situation that, without pressure, it won’t get resolved. The whole thing seems odd.”
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Information from: Herald & Review, http://www.herald-review.com
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