The state can’t go bankrupt, but taxpayers who stay in Illinois will have to pay for the fiscal mess which, when combining the backlog of bills with the projected deficit, is more than $13 billion.

Illinois Comptroller Leslie Munger says if the state had a credit card it would have already blown through its credit limit.

The comptroller implored lawmakers to get together, stop blaming each other and find solutions. Steve Brown, spokesman for Speaker Michael Madigan, says lawmakers already passed a budget in May of last year.

Governor Bruce Rauner vetoed most of that budget saying it was unbalanced to the tune of more than $4 billion. The state is now more than seven months into the fiscal year with no budget in place.

In other State news, the current procurement system in Illinois is an overloaded bureaucracy, ripe for abuse, and Governor Bruce Rauner wants reforms to save taxpayers money.  Steve Brown, spokesman for Speaker Michael Madigan, says the current procurement process was created because of scandals in the past under Republican and Democratic governors, but they’re open to suggestions.  However, Governor Rauner was critical of the Procurement Policy Board when talking about reducing the number of chief procurement officers.

Rauner wants to put procurement under Central Management Services and allow the auditor general to conduct spot checks of purchases, something the governor says could save taxpayers over half-a-billion dollars a year.