As 2025 ends, Illinois Comptroller Susana Mendoza has outlined the major achievements of her office over the past year.
“2025 was a year of uncertainty and confusion at the federal level, but here in Illinois, my office continued to work hard to bring stability to our service providers, transparency to the public, and financial responsibility to state government finances,” said Comptroller Mendoza.
Among the key highlights is that for the fourth consecutive year, all General Revenue Fund (GRF) bills were paid by July 1st. The office reported an end-of-year GRF cash balance of $1.9 billion and maintained a payment cycle within 15 days for state vendors and service providers.
Mendoza also focused on promoting economic development in Southern Illinois by introducing Chicago-area business leaders from Central Asia to potential investment opportunities in regions such as Garden of the Gods.
Throughout the year, Mendoza filmed several videos showcasing various communities across Illinois, including Little Village, Chinatown, Morton, and both state fairs. These videos are available on her YouTube channel.
The Illinois Office of Comptroller launched “The Mendoza Podcast: Financial Talk that Makes Cents,” which covers topics like investing basics, local economies, insurance, college savings, utility bills, home buying and selling, prevailing wage laws, and more. The podcast can be found on YouTube, Spotify and Apple Podcasts.
By November 30th this year, IOC call centers handled over 113,000 calls regarding payments and other inquiries from residents.
On labor issues, Mendoza’s office continued efforts to enforce prevailing wage laws for workers on publicly funded projects. In 2025 alone there were 185 inquiries with 76 cases resolved through their program.
Illinois’ Rainy Day Fund grew to more than $2.4 billion under Mendoza’s advocacy for regular contributions into this emergency reserve intended for fiscal crises.
In March a new website was launched detailing information about Illinois’ bond debt—providing public access to data on bonds issued for capital projects such as roads and schools along with progress reports on repayments.
The policy of pre-paying pension obligations—championed by Mendoza—continued in 2025 with two additional pre-payments made by her office. Pension systems estimate these actions generated over $41 million in extra earnings during the year.
Finally in October Moody’s announced its tenth credit rating upgrade for Illinois in recent years—a trend attributed by Mendoza to fiscal discipline measures such as strengthening reserves and improved cash management practices including pension pre-payments.
