Budget deadlock affecting winter preparations in Illinois

CHICAGO (FOX 32 News) - Illinois’ budget mess is leaving some towns without money for snow response.

Every time a motorist buys gasoline in Illinois, he or she pays the Motor Fuel Tax, which is millions of dollars that the state is supposed to pass along to local governments. However, not a penny's been paid since June because of the budget stalemate in the State Capitol. That means some rural township highway departments may not be able to patch potholes this winter.

“So, the longer this goes on the worse it gets. Townships in central and southern Illinois come spring could have absolutely no money to do anything,” said Algonquin Twp. Highway Commissioner Robert Miller.

Miller's Algonquin Township has 3,000 tons of road salt on hand. But at a meeting Thursday of 17 local highway commissioners in the area, some said that if this winter is worse than the forecast, they fear they could run out of road salt.