Today is April 14, 2021, the day before “tax day” – and the State of Illinois has yet to issue an audited financial report for the fiscal year ended June 30, 2020.
Last year, amidst another long delay, the State of Illinois issued a report in January 2020 noting that state law required the state to deliver the report for fiscal 2019 by December 30, 2019, but that the auditor could not complete the audit, and the state was exercising its statutory authority to issue an “interim” report. The final report for fiscal 2019 arrived on April 23, 2020.
We are closing in on April 23, 2021, and we still don’t have an “interim” report for the year ended June 30, 2020. For anyone trying to track State of Illinois finances, the most recent audited financial report is for a year that ended more than 650 days ago.
Last year, Illinois powers-that-be were blaming the previous administration from the other party. It’s going to be harder to do that this year.