There's evidence the state budget standoff is hurting the economy in Illinois and in Bloomington Normal. It's hard to get the total picture, but a snapshot of one higher education institution alone shows an adverse impact of $12 million per year in McLean County.
Frank Beck is the Director of the Stevenson Center for Community and Economic Development at Illinois State University. Beck says economists usually use spin off calculations to gauge increases in growth. But, "the multiplier can be easily done in the reverse. So for each dollar that is not spent, there is a negative impact of a dollar fifty," Beck said.
Illinois State University has kept 94 jobs vacant at a savings of $4.2 million per year. It's also reduced several million dollars a year of spending on maintenance. And there are capital improvement projects that are on hold. All that money not spent because of the budget uncertainty tallies more than eight million dollars.
With the multiplier that's more than $12 million. And Beck says that does not take into account the negative tax revenue for state and local governments caused by the end of those 94 jobs.
