By Adam Studzinski

SPRINGFIELD – Illinois legislators from Bloomington-Normal liked what Gov. Bruce Rauner had to say in Wednesday’s budget address.

State Rep. Dan Brady (R-Bloomington) said the governor did his job by presenting a budget, even if that proposal is unbalanced. He said the governor is calling of the General Assembly to help him balance things out.

“We can do it through new revenue. We can do it through cuts. And we can do it through structural reform, as well as allowing him certain authority under the Unbalanced Budget Act to make changes,” Brady said.

Brady was encouraged by what the governor had to say about higher education funding.

“Having them at roughly 90 percent of their FY15 funding, with the ability to have about 5 percent more in appropriations on performance based funding,” said Brady. “That’s encouraging. I wish the numbers were stronger.”

State Sen. Jason Barickman (R-Bloomington) said Rauner’s embracing of the proposal by the education funding reform commission to change how K-12 education is funded is “critical.”

“The message that he sent on education, K-12, on performance based budgeting for higher ed, I think these are topics that we can take to our Senate negotiations to hopefully use them to move the ball forward and over the finish line,” Barickman said.

Rauner proposed a property tax freeze and Barickman said property taxes have been something holding up negotiations in the Senate.

“The Senate proposal currently has a two-year property tax freeze, but it considers a permanent income tax hike,” said Barickman. “Those parameters have been subjected to stringency by many of us members.”

Barickman thought Rauner showed leadership in a time they “desperately” needed it.

Adam Studzinski can be reached at [email protected].