So, it has come to this. Headlines in newspapers across the state were devoted to informing voters and taxpayers of the following, momentous development – state senators voted to reject a 7.5% pay increase they would’ve automatically received if no vote was taken.

What a brave and selfless action to take. In an election year, during a recession, while the state is broke. Of course, to get to this point, criticism of the pay increases from pundits, citizens, watchdogs and editorial boards had to continue unabated for months. Even that wouldn’t have been enough to kill the raises if the General Assembly hadn’t been called into special session.
Still, talking heads are hailing this vote as a victory for taxpayers, and I suppose it is, albeit a small one monetarily, when put in context of the state’s budget. Meanwhile, as the legislative raise brushfire is quenched, Rome continues to burn. Sure, the state technically has a budget—but it is anything but balanced.

Estimates of the current year’s deficit range from $700 million to almost $4 billion. And no, the yawning hole in Illinois’ proposed budget for the current fiscal year wasn’t caused by wasteful, inefficient or profligate spending. In fact, human service providers statewide are being shortchanged, education remains woefully under-funded, and healthcare is getting squeezed. Paradoxically, this under-funding of public services is happening at the very same time demand for public services is climbing, as more workers are losing their healthcare benefits—or even worse, their jobs, as part of the ongoing, general economic decline.
But never mind all that, legislators won’t be getting raises, at least this year. Woo Hoo!

That’ll give you the warm fuzzies when you drop your kid off at a poorly funded school on your way to the unemployment line. Next year, however, legislators, the governor and other constitutional officers will automatically receive raises, unless they again vote them down. So, in about six months you can expect another, huge distraction over this emotionally charged but fiscally immaterial raise issue, to rear its ugly head again. That’s because under current law, after a compensation board recommends salary increases for state elected officials, those increases become effective unless affirmatively voted down by both chambers of the General Assembly. The consequences of the coming distraction over raises are easy to predict: everyone from elected officials to the media will be diverted from focusing on making the difficult, but needed reforms to Illinois’ tax system, that will allow the state to impose tax burden more fairly, while doing at least an adequate job of funding schools, human services and healthcare.
Illinois needs a lot of things, but a diversion of time and attention to goofy issues like legislative pay raises assuredly isn’t one of them. Rather than continue this regular dance over raises, I suggest changing the law altogether. Wouldn’t it be better if, after the compensation board recommends salary increases, both chambers had to affirmatively vote for the raises before they become effective? Better still, make the lead sponsor of the salary increase bill testify at a public hearing, and explain why the raises are appropriate. Make sure that the hearing includes others seeking increased state funding, like the human service providers who care for people suffering through substance abuse for instance, who just had their budget line cut by 50 percent.

Just for kicks, invite in the good folks from organizations like Lutheran Social Services, who care for a broad panoply of vulnerable members of our society—like seniors, abused and neglected children and victims of domestic violence, and receive about 75¢ from the state for every dollar of cost incurred in providing that care. In fact, most providers of human services with state contracts are similarly subsidizing Illinois’ obligation to care for the disadvantaged. As for receiving raises, well, human service providers frequently go years without so much as a cost of living increase. The list of whom should received invites to the “raise hearing” is a long one, but you get the point. Enough with the distractions, it’s well past time to deal with the material. If that requires a change in the law regarding raises for state officials—then change it already, so the state can focus on things that actually matter.

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Ralph Martire is executive director of the Center for Tax and Budget Accountability, a bipartisan fiscal policy think tank and is a regular columnist for The Chicago Daily Observer.