On May 9th, Illinois General Assembly approved a $300 million bond sale. 11 banks bid on the deal and Wells Fargo was the winner.
The deal will mark the state's second trip to the municipal bond market so far this year. On April 2, Illinois sold $350 million of taxable and $450 million of tax-exempt general obligation bonds in competitive deals.
$300 million + $350 million + $450 million = Over $1-Billion Dollars bonded during the 2012-2013 legislative session. That's A LOT of DEBT on OUR CHILDREN'S FUTURE (but hey, keep reading)!!!
As Reported on June 5th, 2013:
"Fitch downgraded Illinois's credit rating this week to the lowest in the U.S., after the Illinois Legislature adjourned last week without cutting pensions to state workers. The Illinois House also refused to cut education before adjourning."
"Fitch believes that the burden of large unfunded pension liabilities and growing annual pension expenses is unsustainable," its spokesman said, and a sign that the state's officials are unwilling to address the state's "numerous fiscal challenges."
Illinois already had the lowest credit rating in the U.S., and is now rated A-minus, a rating which will affect the state's $27.5 billion in outstanding debt and increase the interest rate on the $1 billion of new bonds the state plans to sell in the next few weeks."
March 5, 2012, As Reported:
"Bonds approved by the General Assembly were issued twice under (Gov. Pat Quinn) [and under former Rep. Jack McGuire] to make the required [pension] payment due to the fact that there was not an appetite in the General Assembly to make the cuts needed to make the required payments,” Kelly Kraft, Quinn’s budget spokeswoman, said in an email.
Between the current fiscal year [2011-2012] and 2033, the state will have to cough up $25.8 billion for those loans, $9.5 billion of which will be interest alone."
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