Executive Report Task forces Three of the governor's many study groups issued reports in late January and early February, respectively recommending fewer state required local programs, a shift in medicaid fraud investigation, and higher pay for top state government officials. The first report was a preliminary recommendation of large pay boosts for the governor and the three top bureaucrats in state government. It was issued January 20 by a subcommittee of a 28-member blue ribbon task force studying salaries of lawmakers, judges and executive officers. It proposed a 50 per cent salary boost for the governor, to $75,000 a year from the present $50,000. The directors of the departments of Public Aid, Mental Health, and Transportation should get $60,000 a year instead of the $44,000 they now receive, the subcommittee advised. The Commission on State Mandated Programs called on the legislature January 27 to curb the number of programs the state requires local governments to administer. It also said the legislature should include a fiscal note describing the fiscal impact on localities for every new program it establishes. A permanent commission is needed to prepare such fiscal notes, the cominission said. "The major source of local revenue, the property tax does not keep pace with the increased cost of providing existing services, let alone new ones," the commission at, explaining the need for curbing state-mandate programs. A local government subcommittee also advised some specific areas where state burdens should be shifted from localities, including: removing authority from the Department of Corrections for setting county jail standards; making the state pay the full cost of circuit and associate judges' salaries; and demanding that the
April 1978/Illinois Issues/31 departments of Public Health and Public Aid pay the entire cost of mandated county health, aged, and medical care programs. A third report, this one an interim document from the Illinois Fraud Prevention Commission, said that medicaid fraud investigation should be carried out by the state Department of Law Enforcement instead of the Department of Public Aid. Also, people claiming unemployment compensation benefits should report for them in person, rather than receiving them in the mail, and more severe punishment should be meted out to those who fraudulently claim such benifits, the report said. Former U.S. attorney Samuel Skinner, who heads the commission, described the Illinois Department of Public Aid's fraud investigation unit as "ineffective." He said the "most important ingredient in fraud prevention and detection is good people doing their job at the initial stage." He also chaimed that "every dollar put into fraud detection will pay for itself in fraud prevention." A final report on fraud detection is expected by the end of the calendar year.
Forecasting income, job trends Illinois needs an economic forecasting system based upon changing statewide economic forces rather than national trends. Such was the recommendation of a study of the past 20-year history of Illinois' economy. The study, released by Comptroller Michael J. Batakalis last December, showed that private industry in Illinois has grown at only half the national average over the last two decades. The state's lagging economic growth has "not resulted from the state participation in slow growth industries," and " is not the result of declines or slowdowns in a few critical industries," the study concluded. As a first step toward establishing a state data-based economic forecasting system, the comptroller's office released a follow-up study to the General Assembly in January. It described a computerized model being devoloped to predict employment and personal income for Illinois residents. The model, while not designed to forecast state revenues, may "be used in conjunction with an Illinois Tax Revenue Module, which is currently being developed, to more accurately forecast state revenues for the seven largest tax sources," Comptroller Bakalis said. Based on six basic economic sectors in Illinois, the model lists nearly fifty function-al equations that should pinpoint trends in income jobs of state residents. A computerized "prototype" is now being tested "to work out the bugs," according to a spokesman for the comptroller. Implementation of the new perfected module is expected soon, "probably within the next 30 days," the spokesman said January 30.
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