SPRINGFIELD, Ill. | Highlights of Gov. Rod Blagojevich's budget proposal for fiscal year 2008, which starts July 1:
BOTTOM LINE: $49.1 billion in operating expenses, an increase of 7.4 percent, plus $11 billion in construction and maintenance costs.
WHERE IT GOES: 38.7 percent to education; 29.2 percent welfare; 20.1 percent human services; 5.4 percent public safety; 3.6 percent government services; 1 percent economic development; 0.3 percent business and environmental regulation.
NEW MONEY: $3.6 billion, including $900 million in natural tax-revenue growth.
EDUCATION: $1.5 billion in new funding, a 23 percent increase. Another $1.5 billion in construction funds would help districts build new schools and repair old ones.
PENSIONS: More than $27 billion would be placed in government retirement systems, bringing them to 83 percent of full funding. Most of the money would come from a $10 billion plan to privatize the lottery and $16 billion in bond sales.
Source: Governor's Office of Management and Budget.
