If nothing changes, Illinois will enter calendar year 2016 with about $8.5 billion in unpaid bills, the state comptroller said Wednesday.

 

And that’s not the whole of it.

 

The $8.5 billion figure only accounts for what the state is now spending to cover costs Illinois must pay to stay right with consent decrees, court orders and current law, Comptroller Leslie Geissler Munger said.

 

Payments for costs being incurred but not now being made because of the lack of a budget — for instance, higher education and commercial spending — would add another $4.3 billion per year, she said.

 

There’s nothing terribly mysterious about the cause

 

Click Here to read more.