Budget

The Joliet Junior College Board of Trustees approved a $318 million budget for the current fiscal year, with one trustee abstaining and another voting against it out of financial concerns.

Manteno Village Board OKs paying for garbage fees and will rebate local property taxes.

At nearly 900 pages, the legislation is a sprawling collection of tax breaks, spending cuts, and other Republican priorities, including new money for national defense and deportations

The state also ended the fiscal year with $1.9 billion of cash in the General Revenue Fund after all bills were paid, according to the Comptroller Susana Mendoza’s office

Republican leaders in the House are sprinting toward a Wednesday vote on President Donald Trump’s tax and spending cuts package

State lawmakers in Will County spoke at a Joliet casino about the recent passage of the largest budget in state history and the possibility of making adjustments to the budget later this year.

Will County has received an award for budgetary quality and transparency from the Government Finance Officers Association.

Gov. JB Pritzker signed Illinois’ fiscal 2026 budget into law Monday, taking shots at President Donald Trump’s budget management to defend hard choices state lawmakers were forced to make this year

Transit agency officials met this week and formally began the process of planning for next year’s budget, including drawing up plans for major service cuts and potential layoffs

Joliet Public Schools District 86 Superintendent Dr. Theresa Rouse and Deputy Superintendent Dr. Tanisha Cannon discuss proposed changes to school funding, diversity initiatives, and technology policies from the Department of Education with Herald-News Reporter Jessie Molloy.

Herald-News reporter Jessie Molloy discusses Department of Education proposed changes and possible funding cuts with Joliet Township High School District 204 Superintendent Dr. Karla Guseman.

Only six months into the job, Senate Majority Leader John Thune faces a massive challenge as he tries to quickly push President Donald Trump’s sprawling tax and spending cuts package to passage with the support of a divided GOP conference

Plainfield Community Consolidated School District 202's Superintendent Dr. Glenn Wood discusses the district's contingency plans for lost funding following a series of new rules from the Department of Education with Herald-News reporter Jessie Molloy.

Sterling is one step closer to receiving a River Edge Redevelopment Zone designation that could provide up to $50 million in tax incentives for economic development work the city has already started along its riverfront.

Jessie Molloy discusses recent changes at the department of Education with Lockport Township High School District 205 Superintendent Dr. Robert McBride.

The tax and spending cuts that passed the House last month would add more than $5 trillion to the national debt in the coming decade if all of them are allowed to continue

Spending plan raises over $1B in revenue; income, sales taxes not affected

U.S. Rep. Lauren Underwood spoke with constituents in Joliet on Saturday, accompanied by fellow Democrat Congressman Maxwell Frost of Florida. The pair discussed the proposed Republican budget bill and how social services, veterans and job programs will be impacted.

Illinois Democrats introduced what a leading budgeteer described as a $55 billion budget Friday evening ahead of a Saturday deadline to pass the fiscal year 2026 spending plan

Gov. JB Pritzker said he would specifically veto any budget that includes tax increases on individuals, corporations or the sales tax

The General Assembly has through May 31 to pass a budget with a simple majority vote before the threshold increases to a three-fifths vote on June 1

A look at a few of the potential sticking points in the Senate

The Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, a nonpartisan fiscal watchdog group, estimates that the House bill is shaping up to add roughly $3.3 trillion to the debt over the next decade

Extending President Donald Trump’s 2017 tax cuts, a priority of the Republican-controlled Congress, Moody’s said, would add $4 trillion over the next decade to the federal primary deficit (which does not include interest payments)

Gov. JB Pritzker’s office is now projecting state revenues to come in about a half-billion dollars below the baseline projections assumed during his February budget address

House Republicans proposed sweeping tax breaks Monday in President Donald Trump’s big priority bill, tallying at least $4.9 trillion in costs so far, partly paid for with cuts to Medicaid, food stamps and green energy programs used by millions of Americans

House Republicans unveiled the cost-saving centerpiece of President Donald Trump’s “big, beautiful bill” late Sunday, at least $880 billion in cuts largely to Medicaid to help cover the cost of $4.5 trillion in tax breaks.

The Illinois General Assembly‘s independent forecasting commission has improved revenue projections for the upcoming fiscal year despite growing economic volatility

Trump’s plan aims for steep cuts to child care, disease research, renewable energy and peacekeeping abroad, many already underway through Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency

One day before the Fiscal Year 2026 begins, the Bradley Village Board unanimously approved a $21.9 million budget, with an excess of nearly $1.5 million.

After a fundraiser was started to pay off unpaid student lunch fees at Dixon Public Schools, administrators found it would be too costly to enroll in a federally assisted program that provides free meals to all students.

The Dixon City Council has decided that representatives from Discover Dixon and the Lee County Industrial Development Association need to appear before the council before it will approve contracts to allocate funds to the organizations.

The Dixon City Council will vote April 17, 2025, whether to approve the fiscal 2026 budget.

Congressional Republicans navigate tight margins while drafting budget bill

Speaker Johnson secures GOP votes for budget plan amid costs and cuts debate

The White Oak Library District hopes to raise its taxing rate for the first time in 96 years with a voter referendum on the April 1 ballot in order to expand hours and services.

In the state fiscal year that ended in June, Illinois received over $20 billion in federal Medicaid funding, which made up about 62% of the total funding for Medicaid programs in Illinois, according to HFS

The Lockport City Council has approved a contract for over $2 million for mechanical improvements at the Central Square building.

Rock Falls Fire Department Deputy Fire Chief Kyle Sommers said the departments are losing $825,000 in federal Community Project Funding appropriations they had planned to use to build a burn tower where firefighters from both communities could train in live-fire conditions.

The decision to waive the bid process and accept a proposal from Jefferson Fire and Safety for the purchase of a customized Rosenbauer King Cobra firetruck with a 101-foot articulating aerial ladder came after a series of reports on the state of the department’s apparatus.

Read the transcript from our podcast: Dixon Mayor Glen Hughes talks about the 2025-2026 Dixon city budget.

The TALK-LINE interview for March 18 featured Dixon Mayor Glen Hughes discussing the 2025-2026 Dixon city budget.

The General Assembly’s bipartisan Commission on Government Forecasting and Accountability released a new fiscal year 2026 revenue projection that is $737 million short of the proposal Pritzker introduced last month

Republican senators pushed a $340 billion budget framework to passage over Democratic objections after a nearly all-night vote

“If you come to the table looking to spend more, I’m going to ask you where you want to cut,” Pritzker said during his budget address

Trump undercut the Senate GOP’s efforts on Wednesday, calling on both chambers to pass the House budget resolution

An improved revenue forecast is helping ease pressure on state finances as Gov. JB Pritzker calls for tightened spending to balance the budget without tax increases on everyday Illinoisans

The governor's proposal would eliminate a health care program for low-income noncitizens aged 42-64 who are in the U.S. without legal permission

A day ahead of Gov. JB Pritzker’s annual budget address Wednesday, Senate Republicans said they want budget negotiations to include cuts to noncitizen spending while bringing in “transparent accounting.”

Gov. JB Pritzker will present his seventh budget proposal Wednesday as the state faces a projected $3.2 billion revenue shortfall for fiscal2026