The bad budget news just keeps rolling in. Yesterday, Comptroller Dan Hynes released his latest report (PDF) on the state's finances. As Capitol Fax's Rich Miller put it, the situation has become "pretty much hopeless."

Not only has the backlog of unpaid bills now surpassed the $5.1 billion mark, but the hole grows to a whopping $8.75 billion if outstanding payments to school districts, health care providers, and obligations on short-term loans are included. Over at Crain's, Greg Hinz boils down the numbers:

The comptroller’s latest report, covering the quarter that ended Dec. 31, indicated that Mr. Hynes had $5.1 billion in unpaid bills on his desk. But that doesn't count $2.25 billion in short-term loans that must be repaid by June 30, and another $1.4 billion in health care bills that have been incurred but not yet presented.

For some perspective, Hynes' office reports that the backlog of unpaid bills owed out of the General Fund totaled $1.84 billion at this time last year. Additionally, average payment delays have nearly doubled to 92 business days (or about four-and-a-half months).

As regular readers know, social service providers have been pleading for relief for some time now -- to no avail. "We can withstand some difficult times," Clete Winkelman, executive director of Children's Home tells the Peoria Journal Star, but "not forever."  Still waiting on a single payment seven months into the 2010 fiscal year, Children's Home has now joined others and resorted to layoffs and service cuts.

As we wrote yesterday, $750 million in relief is on the way thanks to proceeds from a pending $3.47 billion bond sale. It remains to be seen how Hynes will divvy up the cash.  But the money will only go so far. And new bills keep piling up, particularly as revenue continues to slide. More from Hynes' report:

State revenues were down by $746 million, or 7.0 % ... At the end of December, income taxes had decreased by $415 million with individual income taxes down $315 million (7.6%) while corporate income taxes declined by $100 million (16.3%) compared with the first half of last year.

With the recession continuing to impact economy-driven revenues, sales tax receipts decreased $420 million or 12.6 %.

Certainly, Illinois isn't the only state grappling with a revenue undertow. During the third quarter of calendar year 2009, state tax revenues fell by an average of 10.9 percent nationally, marking the largest decline in more than four decades, according to a Rockefeller Institute of Government report (PDF) out today. And even if the national economy picks up, states aren't likely to rebound anytime soon:

“While the recession may be over for the national economy, it is far from over for the finances of state governments," said Lucy Dadayan of the Rockefeller Institute. “[E]ven if tax collections in the coming year move up from 2009 levels, the depth of the decline over the past two years will almost certainly leave state revenues significantly lower than those of any of the past several years.”

Not surprisingly, a saving grace for Illinois has been the $551 million in federal stimulus money (collected between July and December) that has helped offset the loss of state revenue. That money represented a one-time infusion, however. Unless the General Assembly takes "meaningful action" to generate new revenue, Hynes writes, "the financial damage already inflicted on the social service and health care infrastructure threatens to become permanent."