ILLINOIS (WAND) - Gov. JB Pritzker has announced over $700 million in initial cuts for the 2021 fiscal year as a result of a budget deficit.

In a Tuesday press conference, the governor announced Illinois has a projected budget shortfall of $3.9 billion for the current fiscal year. He said nearly $2 billion of this was caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. 

The $700 million in cuts are in categories the governor said are within his control and do not need legislature approval. He said decisions came as a result of a "months-long and ongoing review of agency spending under the Executive Branch." 

Cuts include the following amounts to the following areas:

  • Health care/human services: $200 million 
  • Government services: $304 million 
  • Economic/environment development: $135 million 
  • Public safety: $71 million 

The governor said federal support is needed to help state and local governments in the U.S., which lost billions in revenue due to COVID-19. He said Congress must act. 

Pritzker placed some blame for a situation requiring these cuts on the administration of former Gov. Bruce Rauner, who he said wouldn't accept a compromise and left behind a multi-billion dollar deficit, and Republicans, who he said "have no plan at all" after defeating his graduated income tax plan in the November 2020 election. 

The governor also announced the following measures in a push by his administration to find budget efficiencies: 

  • Negotiations with AFSCME and other employee unions to identify $75 million in personnel cost adjustments, which could include furlough days.
  • Creation of a Department of Corrections facilities closure work group to identify additional savings due to the lower offender population.

“From the beginning of my term in office, I’ve worked hard to bring honest solutions to the table, doing the hard things that must be done to put our fiscal house in order - including bringing efficiencies to lower the cost of operating state government, working to reduce the budget pressure of pension liabilities, investing in the expansion of revenue producing industries, and attracting our most promising economic assets — our college bound seniors – to stay in Illinois rather than go to college elsewhere,” said Pritzker. “I promised to be a governor who balances the budget and begins paying down the bills that my predecessor left behind. I promised to invest in education, job training and job creation. Before COVID hit us, we did that. And despite all the current challenges, I am confident we will continue our ascent to economic strength and fiscal stability."

Pritzker previously announced the sale of $2 billion in three-year notes to the Municipal Liquidity Facility to help the state bridge the gap from dramatic revenue losses that came from the pandemic. A press release from the governor's office said this transition will be finalized by the end of 2020. 

The release said the governor will keep urging Congress to pass direct funding for state and local governments who coordinated the pandemic response.