Will County Gazette

A new WalletHub.com survey that finds Illinois is among the states most in need of financial assistance in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic brings all of state Rep. Margo McDermed’s (R-Mokena) worse fears to life.

“I’m very concerned about how we survive as a state over the long haul,” McDermed told the Will County Gazette. “It seems like the leaders in Springfield live with only the moment in mind and with little to no regard for the future.”

Overall, researchers concluded that Illinois ranks as the sixth-neediest state in the country, with a measure of its poor standing being attributable to its instability even before the pandemic rose to the surface. The state also ranked near the bottom in terms of state and local debt per capita, including on the metric of unfunded pension liabilities, which are estimated at more than $138 billion.

“They’re not enough tax dollars to sustain all the things we’re doing,” McDermed added. “We as Republicans have to find a way to get more seats in Springfield. That’s really difficult to do based on the way the state has been gerrymandered and way Democrats pander to their base.”

McDermed said the state’s newly passed $42 billion budget plan that Democrats banded together to pass and send to the desk of Gov. J.B. Pritzker is just more of the same fiscal irresponsibility.

“I don’t see how this budget can be seen as being good for the state given all the borrowing just to hold it together,” she said. “The borrowing may get us through the first year or so, but after that it only digs the hole deeper. I’ve lost confidence in the ability of Democrats to understand what’s best for this state.”

McDermed said it’s not all surprising that the pandemic has taken the toll it has on Illinois.   

“When you’re already in a precarious financial state every bump in road can be really damaging,” she said.