The Comptroller is elected for a renewable four-year term during the quadrennial mid-term election. The Illinois Constitution provides that the Comptroller must, at the time of their election, be a United States citizen, at least 25 years old, and a resident of the state for at least 3 years preceding the election.[3]
Powers and duties
Article V, Section 17 of the Constitution of Illinois states the Comptroller "...shall maintain the State's central fiscal accounts, and order payments into and out of the funds held by the Treasurer."[4] In accordance with this mandate, the Comptroller is designated by law as the chief fiscal control officer for the state of Illinois and thus responsible for the legal, efficient, and effective financial operations of state government.[5][6] As such, the Comptroller:
Establishes internal control guidelines applicable to every state agency.[8]
Orders deposits into the state treasury and approves receipts issued by the Treasurer.[9]
Audits vouchers certified by state agencies for obligations incurred, including obligations made by the state to its employees and creditors, and issues warrants on the state treasury in payment of vouchers approved, either by signing paychecks or granting approval to electronic payments.[10]
Approves or refuses the sale of state bonds in excess of statutory debt limits.[19] Illinois state agencies, as a matter of law, cannot generally incur debt in excess of sums appropriated by the General Assembly. In practice however, state agencies can incur debt beyond these statutory limits if the resulting bonds are authorized by the Governor and approved by the Comptroller. If approved, said bonds are issued by the Office of Management and Budget, a Cabinet-level state agency, and serviced as to principal and interest by the Treasurer.[20] No other elected state comptroller in the United States enjoys this power over bond issuance.[b]
The Comptroller is charged by statute with certain additional duties. In particular, the Comptroller supervises local government finances throughout Illinois. This function includes reviewing localities' financial statements, collecting financial data and organizing it into user-friendly databases, investigating instances of waste or fraud in local governments, and publishing an annual report summarizing the revenues, expenditures, fund balance, and debt of some 9,000 units of local government.[22][23][24][25] Moreover, the Comptroller regulates cemeteries under the Cemetery Care Act, and is charged with the fiduciary protection of cemetery care funds used for the care and maintenance of Illinois gravesites.[26]
The late Judy Baar Topinka was a moderate Republican first elected in 2010 and subsequently re-elected in 2014 to a second four-year term as Comptroller. However, Topinka died unexpectedly in December 2014.[30] On December 19, Governor Pat Quinn appointed Jerry Stermer to succeed Topinka, to serve until January 12, 2015, when he was replaced by Leslie Munger, who was appointed by Quinn's successor as governor, Bruce Rauner.[31][32][33] Munger was then defeated by Susana Mendoza in the 2016 special election to fill the remainder of the term through 2018.
Merger proposals
Some legislators have perceived a redundancy overlap between the offices of Comptroller and Treasurer, and have therefore proposed constitutional amendments to merge the two offices and earn administrative savings. For example, HJRCA 12, considered by the Illinois General Assembly in the 2008-2009 session, would merge the office of Comptroller into the office of Treasurer.[34]
^"Table 4.30: State Comptrollers, 2021". The Book of the States, Volume 53. The Council of State Governments. January 7, 2022. pp. 184–185. Retrieved February 8, 2024.
