Credit agency said even with series of upgrades that Illinois’ credit remains lower than any other state in the nation.
Illinois on Thursday received its third credit upgrade in less than a year after previously going more than two decades without one, bolstering Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s reelection campaign message that he and fellow Democrats are slowly fixing the state’s long-running financial problems.
“There is more work to be done, of course, but step by step, rung by rung, we are steadily climbing the ladder out of the hole that was dug over decades, and Illinois’ future is bright,” Pritzker said., the first upgrade for Illinois since Republican George Ryan was governor. S&P Global Ratings followed suit soon after, and while Fitch Ratings still has Illinois at its lowest investment grade, the firm has signaled an upgrade could be in the offing.
The spending plan for the budget year that begins July 1 and other measures are allowing the state to deposit $1 billion into its rainy day fund, make an additional pension payment of $500 million on top of a required $9.6 billion contribution, and devote more than $1 billion toward paying off old employee health insurance bills.
Still, the state has nearly $140 million in unfunded pension liabilities and has yet to come up with a plan to repay the remaining $1.8 billion unemployment fund debt, among other challenges.
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