Top officials in Illinois Gov. Bruce Rauner's administration warned of the imminent shutdown of hundreds of transportation projects even though the state is selling bonds on Thursday to fund road, bridge and mass transit work, Reuters reported today. The odd timing of the announcement on the eve of the state bond issue handed Rauner's Democratic rivals in the state legislature fodder to question whether the first-term governor was deliberately acting to drive up Illinois' borrowing costs. Illinois Department of Transportation Secretary Randall Blankenhorn told reporters in the state capitol in Springfield that 800 projects totaling $2 billion will be shuttered if the legislature does not approve the governor's temporary budget plan. The state is selling $550 million of general obligation bonds in the U.S. municipal market with $530 million of the proceeds earmarked for mass transit and road construction. Illinois has been dependent on court orders and a muddle of ongoing and stopgap appropriations to continue operating, and lawmakers have not yet reached any agreement on a spending plan for the fiscal year that begins July 1.
