In 2016, the Tribune Editorial Board urged voters to reject something
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called the Illinois Transportation Taxes and Fees Lockbox Amendment arguing that “a constitutional amendment would take away the flexibility required if there’s an unexpected drop in revenue, a serious emergency or a crushing recession.”Alas, voter mistrust of Springfield politicians was so high that a majority of voters proved unable to be persuaded that fiscal discipline — not a restrictive constitutional amendment — was the right solution.
Now, taxes paid at the pump, fees collected at driver’s license facilities and more go into a budget lockbox, and the money can’t be spent on anything other than road construction, mass transit and other explicit transportation-related costs.
While we understand the instinct to put Springfield in check, it’s clear that Illinois got played by the unions and road builders backing the lockbox measure, and the legacy of this amendment is now having ripple effects that are hitting local budgets following, you guessed it, “an unexpected drop in revenue.”
Just look at Cook County.
Leaders are proposing closing a $550 million budget gap by reducing the county’s budget by 4.2%, a belt tightening that deserves recognition.
But on top of an expected drop in federal funding, the transportation lockbox is creating an estimated $258 million annual hole in the county’s general fund, even as the restricted transportation revenue continues to accumulate.
Cook County officials told us in our office that $535.8 million in restricted money has accumulated in the Transportation Fund. If restrictions were lifted, we heard, the county would use this money to “cover costs related to the administration of laws related to traffic, railroad, and motor carrier laws or for the safety of highways, roads, streets, bridges, mass transit, intercity passenger rail, ports or airports.”
Whether those expenditures qualify under the amendment is now a matter for the courts. Meanwhile, the money continues to pile up. The county’s budget projects that the restricted balance could reach $1.8 billion by fiscal 2031.
This is maddening. Of course there is blame to go around, and fiscal conservatives would likely find much over which to blush in the county’s $9.7 billion budget proposal. We Cook County residents know that our governments live in a perpetual state of budget shortfalls.
But it’s impossible to ignore the challenge at hand. That this restricted pot will continue to grow is a massive problem. Cook County has litigation pending on this front, but the outcome is uncertain.
We’ve long known this lockbox would create problems and have been suspicious of it on many accounts. Remember, lawmakers let this amendment get to the ballot even as other popular issues, such as term limits and redistricting reform, have been blocked before voters ever got a say. There’s a reason road builders and related unions poured millions into passing this thing back in 2016: job security. Now that they’ve successfully lobbied to put restrictions on transportation spending into the Illinois Constitution, the industry is using the courts to enforce those restrictions against a county facing a substantial budget shortfall.
As we wrote before the 2016 lockbox vote, if the consensus among lawmakers was that the road fund shouldn’t be raided, then they should’ve simply stopped raiding it. Instead, they locked down the money.
This is not to blithely defend Illinois lawmakers’ track records on budgets, nor is it an endorsement of raiding funds because politicians can’t curb their addiction to spending. Rather we see it as a matter of simple common sense.
Unfortunately, for the foreseeable future, we’re stuck with the lockbox. We can only hope the county finds a lawful way to regain some fiscal flexibility.
Here’s a good rule of thumb for Illinois voters: When Springfield politicians eagerly offer you a constitutional amendment, ask who stands to benefit. There’s usually a catch.
Submit a letter, of no more than 400 words, to the editor here or email [email protected].
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