State Senator John O. Jones says fixing the Illinois budget hole of an estimated 13 billion dollars will be no easy task. The comment came after Governor Pat Quinn spoke about the state budget last week and posted information online about anticipated revenues and expenditures. Jones says a major problem facing the state is funding for education. "Last year there was a billion dollars in stimulus money that went into education," he says. "That filled a hole and that one billion dollars is gone as of July 1st and we're a billion dollars short."

Jones says Quinn didn't "spell out" what he wanted funded in the next fiscal year, but says that will come with the March 10th Budget hearing. The State Senator says Quinn is planning on an income tax increase. "I know Speaker Madigan and President Cullerton asked him not to put out a proposal using an increase in income tax," he says. "They wanted him to wait until after November, but his budget proposal will have an income tax increase in it."

Jones predicts a lot of borrowing for the next fiscal year, mainly to fund a near five-billion dollar pension obligation. He says Quinn can borrow up to one-third of the general revenue fund - around nine billion dollars - but that must be paid back within a year. Jones say Quinn has already borrowed around three billion dollars, leaving another six billion for borrowing. The State Senator says Democrats will likely pull several budget manuevers to make the situation appear to improve leading up to the November elections.