By Eric Stock

BLOOMINGTON – A local economic developer said it helps to finally have a state budget, but businesses considering coming to Illinois still have a lot of questions about the state’s financial footing.

CEO of the Bloomington-Normal Economic Development Council Kyle Ham tells WJBC’s Scott Laughlin employers he’s talked to are concerned about workers compensation and pension reform which issued that were left unresolved in the budget agreement.

Listen to Scott’s interview with Ham on WJBC.

“People are still looking at Illinois they are just sort of like wait and see,” Ham said. “That’s the frustrating part, because I believe if we were better positioned from a state and had a 10- to 20-year plan to get out of this mess, we would see a lot more opportunities.”

Ham was part of the Illinois delegation at the recent Select USA Investment Summit in Washington D.C. to meet with potential international investors.

“We want to know that 15 years from now, 20 years from now we have a plan a process, even if it is raising taxes, but how do we get out of this major hole we are in?,” Ham said. “We don’t have that plan and so it creates a lot of instability and then companies come here saying ‘What are you guys doing? How are you going to get this fixed?’ ”

Eric Stock can be reached at [email protected].