SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (AP) — Ambulance operators,
pharmacists, aircraft repairmen, produce providers, funeral home directors,
even racing horse owners.
Illinois businesses large and small have suffered
as state government's failure to promptly pay its bills became the status quo.
While all business owners are suffering through the nation's economic problems,
the state's inability to pay its debts for months at a time has forced these
vendors and service providers to borrow money, lay off staff, cut salaries and
more.
The businesses do their part, providing the goods
and services that Illinois government needs to stay afloat and carry out its
most important tasks. But the state doesn't keep its end of the bargain.
Instead, it makes vendors wait weeks or months — basically, using their money
as an unauthorized short-term loan.
A look at a state ledger provided by the Illinois
Comptroller's Office showed roughly $67 million in overdue bills primarily from
businesses as of early September. The late tab for cars and gasoline was $2.7
million. Auditing and management services were owed $4.5 million. Computer
software cost $2.7 million.
Some businesses shared their stories of what it's
like to work with the state, plead for relief and endure the long wait for
payment:
KEEP 'EM FLYING
JACKSONVILLE, Ill. — Even the guy who keeps state
government's planes in the air can't get paid on time. Illinois owed $15,668
dollars to Klem's Aero Repair as of early September, with some bills stretching
back to the beginning of May.
Owner Irvin Klemmensen said he got one check in
August for work he had done in January on the five planes he tends from an
overall fleet the state uses for state police and other business.
Klemmensen used to have two employees at his
Jacksonville business, but he had to lay them off a couple of years ago.
"I can't afford to have anybody else. The state is the biggest cause of
it," he said.
State checks used to come like clockwork,
Klemmensen said. Now they come in fits and starts so that he can't count on the
money.
Klemmensen said he would never take shortcuts on
aircraft maintenance, no matter how slowly the state pays him. But he knows the
state wouldn't be so patient if he were the one not making his payments.
"If I didn't pay my sales tax, they'd send me
all kinds of nasty letters and threats," he said.
— Christopher Wills, The Associated Press
EMERGENCY SERVICE
PEORIA, Ill. — Illinois owes the largest downstate
ambulance company more than $750,000, and that business soon will cut services
to stop the budget shortfalls.
After November, Advanced Medical Transport will no
longer contract with the state to transport patients with behavioral problems,
company president Andrew Rand said.
AMT now has two state contracts — one to transport
the patients with behavioral problems, the other to provide a variety of
Medicaid services for emergency medical care.
"The state only funded the program for six
months this year," Rand said. "Given the lack of the correct
appropriation, we needed to provide notice under the agreement or we'll get
stuck trying to recover our costs in court."
"Our present cost of care is more than double
what AMT is reimbursed by Medicaid. The state hasn't changed our reimbursement
in 10 years. It's awful," Rand said.
— Steve Tarter, (Peoria) Journal Star
ONE LESS JOB
BELLEVILLE, Ill. — Stephen Clement, owner of Copper
Bend Pharmacy in Belleville, said he could create a job if Illinois paid him on
time.
The state owed Copper Bend about $27,300 as of
early September.
"I'm busy enough that I could hire another
person, but I can't hire because of the state being behind," Clement said.
The state owes Copper Bend for medicine provided to
public aid or Medicaid recipients. Clement said he can't stop providing
services to those customers.
"I took an oath to help patients" he
said. "Right now I have enough other business that I can continue to keep
my doors open, but I do understand how some businesses are top-heavy in public
aid or Medicaid, and they just can't do it because they have no cash
flow."
Nearby, the Evers Group of Pharmacies announced in
June that it was selling three of its five pharmacies in the St Louis
metro-east area. Owner Todd Evers cited the state's late reimbursement as one
factor.
Said Clement, "I'm worried that the state's
backlog is going to get worse. I don't know how long we can keep up."
— Brian Brueggemann, Belleville News-Democrat
LOST IN TRANSLATION
CHICAGO — Jill Bishop thought she'd found a stable
foundation for her small business when she landed a deal with the state of
Illinois. She even lowered her usual prices for translation services to win the
contract.
Now she finds herself tethered to a big customer
that creates even bigger headaches.
Bishop said the state owes Workforce Language
Services $82,000 going back nine months — "which isn't bad, compared to
how it has been." Money arrives at random times, in random amounts, for
her business translating for newcomers to the country who are dealing with confusing
state agencies.
"I get some state checks and I get excited.
Then I open them and they're for $2.07, and it's a lot less exciting,"
Bishop said.
She said she sometimes goes without a salary and
makes personal loans to the business. She has gone to the court of claims to
collect her state money.
Bishop also joined a "vendor assistance
program" where a company basically buys her debt dollar-for-dollar and
then pockets any late fees and interest the state ultimately pays out.
Bishop said her business is still small enough that
it would be difficult to give up even a troublesome client. What's more, she
likes translating for newcomers to the country.
"I enjoy knowing we're helping," she
said.
— Christopher Wills, The Associated Press
HELPING OUT
FAIRVIEW HEIGHTS, Ill. — Charlie Kassly said he can
understand how some funeral homes choose not to provide services to Illinois
families on public aid.
The co-owner of Kassly Mortuary in Fairview Heights
said the state owed his company about $6,500 as of Sept. 8 for burials of
indigent people. At times, Illinois has owed the mortuary as much as $12,000.
"It's not a large amount, but it's an
amount," he said. "So what we do is end up outlaying some cash for
merchandise and other third-party people that we pay. We're laying out our
money to receive reimbursement. ... It's an issue."
He said funeral homes like his help out "a lot
of needy families." But the list of those willing to do it may be getting
shorter.
"I'm not going to name names," he said,
"but we've had families call and say, 'Such-and-such funeral home will not
accept public aid as payment. Can you help us out?'"
— Brian Brueggemann, Belleville News-Democrat
DELAYED PURSE
ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill. —Buried among the state's
billions of dollars in unpaid bills is more than $203,000 owed to Arlington
Park Racecourse.
The state's unpaid bills aren't a huge part of the
track's business. For example, gamblers bet more than $250 million both on and
off the track at Arlington Park last year. But why would the Arlington Heights
thoroughbred racetrack be owed state money?
Through an Illinois Department of Agriculture
program, horse owners who enter races at the track can be eligible for special
cash incentives if they run Illinois born-and-raised horses.
The point, says Department of Agriculture
spokeswoman Charlyn Fargo, is to spur on the Illinois horse racing industry at
a time when racing receipts are down.
The problem is the track pays out those incentives
almost immediately, shortly after the race. But because of Illinois' backlog of
bills, the state waits, sometimes for months, to pay Arlington Park the money
it owes to cover those incentives.
Thom Serafin, a spokesman, said track officials
aren't complaining, though.
"We're no different from everyone else,"
Serafin said. "It's hard to be upset when we're all in the same
boat."
— Mike Riopell, (Arlington Heights) Daily Herald
To explore a searchable database of the Illinois
government's unpaid bills from Sept. 8, go to http://billpay.qconline.com
Copyright 2011 The Associated Press.
