Quinn Visits Savoy, Touts Budget

Illinois governor Pat Quinn is holding to his goal of getting state bills paid within a 30 day period. The governor is touring health-care establishments in downstate Illinois, places that have been waiting months for reimbursements from the state for Medicaid and other expenses. Quinn stood next to the pharmacy inside a supermarket in Savoy this morning to tout a budget plan that includes an income tax increase and additional tax burdens on businesses.

We have to clear off an 11.5 billion dollar deficit and balance the budget. It may take castor oil, but so be it," said Quinn. "The Land of Lincoln is not a deadbeat and never will be."

Quinn's pharmacy backdrop was to highlight businesses he says are hurting because the state isn't paying its reimbursements on time. Mark Black is a Danville nursing home administrator who says he's getting insistent letters from creditors who normally understand the payment backlog.

"If we're in a system where we're not being reimbur4sed and reimbursed on a timely basis, it puts our residents at risk. And it certainly makes it difficult in our community to pay to local vendors the bills that we owe them," said Black.

Quinn is also maintaining his opposition to raising the state motor fuel tax to help pay for a 26 billion dollar capital construction plan for the state.