The state’s unpaid vendor debt trickled downward during the week ending July 12, finishing at $6,643,624,664.94, or slightly more than $100 million over last week’s debt levels.
Debt has come in under $7 billion for most of 2018 after more than doubling that amount at over $16 billion during a two-year period when the state operated without a balanced budget starting in 2015.
The downward trend traces back to Gov. Bruce Rauner’s announcement last year that he planned to issue $6 billion worth of general obligation bonds, all of which was applied to the state’s debt after it had spiraled to record-high levels.
Gov. Bruce Rauner
Earlier this year, State Comptroller Susana Mendoza launched the so-called Debt Transparency Act, which Mendoza explained was created to keep taxpayers abreast of the state’s outstanding debt levels. The measure requires state agencies to report monthly liabilities in a manner outlined by the comptroller’s office.
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