"In accounting, a surplus means the excess of assets (money had) over liabilities (money owed) accumulated. But in government budgeting it is defined as an excess of receipts over disbursements...The county is projecting its expenditures will be less than its receipts, but if history is any indicator this does not include the correct retirement payments for county workers."
A largely unasked question is becoming glaring: Is Illinois doing all it should to use artificial intelligence to make government cost less and work better? So far, the evidence says no.