Contact: Cullen Werwie, (608) 267-7303
Madison—Today Governor Scott Walker’s office highlighted a recent article comparing the fiscal environments in Wisconsin and Illinois.
According to a recent Bloomberg article Illinois’ “per-capita state debt has tripled since 2001, to $1,924, and would almost double to $3,732 next year if lawmakers approve borrowing, according to a Feb. 15 report from Chicago’s Civic Federation, a nonpartisan public-interest group. Illinois’ debt is tied with California’s as the lowest-rated in the estimation of Moody’s Investors Service, and Standard & Poor’s has it one level above California. The market seems unimpressed with Quinn’s plans. The extra yield investors demand to hold an Illinois state general obligation bond maturing in May 2024 rather than top-rated debt has risen 38 basis points since Jan. 3, according to a Bloomberg Valuation index. For Wisconsin, whose Governor Scott Walker has promised a smaller government, the so-called spread on a general obligation bond maturing in June 2022 has fallen 7 basis points over the same period.”
