The state of Illinois’ unpaid vendor debt trickled upward to $9,750,610,362.34 as of Dec. 20, marking the third straight week the amount has hovered around that level, according to the state comptroller’s office.
The state's unpaid debt has held at under $10 billion ever since Gov. Bruce Rauner made the decision to issue $6 billion worth of general obligation bonds to use toward the state’s once record-setting debt burden, which had flirted with eclipsing $17 billion. At the time of Rauner's announcement, the Herald Sun reported the bonds being issued were rated BBB- by Standard & Poor's and Baa3 by Moody’s Investors Services.
Prior to Rauner’s actions in issuing the bonds, the state’s runaway debt load soared to just over $16.6 billion, or more than $1 billion more than where it stood in early October, a posting from the state comptroller's office noted at the time.
Over a two-year period marked by the state operating with no balanced budget in place beginning in 2015, Illinois vendor debt tripled from roughly $5 billion. With all the debt the state remains on the hook for, the amount continues to rise by at least $2 million a day in late payment interest.
At the time of his bond announcement, Rauner also insisted that all proceeds from the sale of the bonds would be used for the sole purpose of tackling the state’s debt load.
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