Metro East Sun

Dwight Kay is at a loss for words when it comes to understanding Illinois’ faltering bond rating system.

“I don’t know how it is Moody’s Investors (Service) can determine last year’s 32 percent income tax hike changes our bottom of the barrel bond rating to something perceived to be normal or more positive in any way,” he told the Metro East Sun. “We still have $8 billion in unpaid bills, and billions and billions more in unfunded pension liabilities where there is no reserve to pay for either one of them.”

Still, Moody’s recently affirmed the state’s bond rating above that of junk status, albeit with the caveat that things have gotten so bad they can’t get any worse over the foreseeable future, thereby transforming the state’s overall outlook from negative to “stable.”

Rep. Katie Stuart (D-Edwardsville) | http://www.ilga.gov/house/Rep.asp?MemberID=2500

Moody’s added in its assessment, even with its massive pension liabilities “any credit deterioration in the next two years will not affect the state’s finances, economy, or overall liabilities to an extent sufficient to warrant a lower rating.”

Kay, running in November against incumbent Rep. Katie Stuart (D-Edwardsville) in Illinois’ 112th District, isn’t buying any of it.

“To say that things can’t get any worse is an indicting statement in and of itself,” he said. “How can you make things any better when it can’t get any worse? To me, it all seems so arbitrary. My view is that this shapes up to be a very serious indictment.”

Illinois narrowly escaped being downgraded to “junk” bond status last year after passing a record-setting budget that, nonetheless, served as its first in two full years. Even then, it took an improbable coalition of lawmakers banding together to override Gov. Bruce Rauner’s vetoes for the measure to pass.

Currently, the state’s credit rating stands at Baa3 or one notch above “junk” status, with the ratings primarily used to determine interest rates for the state.