Lee News Service Writer

SPRINGFIELD - East St. Louis is slated to get $250,000 to resume a scuttled anti-violence program. Southern Illinois' winemakers are toasting a $400,000 earmark for their industry. And parks and historic sites throughout the Metro East are being told they'll have what they need to stay open.

But those and other entities probably shouldn't count their money just yet. Illinois' budget battle may be far from over.

"We do not have a budget for the state of Illinois," Gov. Rod Blagojevich declared Monday during a Chicago news conference about 36 hours after the legislature sent him a fiscal year 2009 budget that even its legislative authors admit isn't balanced.

He vowed to call legislative leaders this week to arrange a top-level meeting and "get back to the drawing board" and revamp the spending plan. Eventually, he said, he may call the full General Assembly back to Springfield to deal with the issue.

Blagojevich's administration estimates there is a $2.1 billion shortfall in the budget bill passed by the legislature. Others have offered different estimates, but virtually everyone agrees there isn't enough revenue in the plan to cover expenditures.

That means Blagojevich will have to unilaterally trim some of what's in the $59 billion document, which is state government's financial blueprint for the fiscal year that starts July 1.

Put another way: He has to be the bad guy.

"I have in my possession a budget that is out of balance, out of whack, by (roughly) $2 billion," Blagojevich complained to reporters. He went on to announce that he was seeking the meeting with legislative leaders this week to "resume the work necessary."

It's unclear what that will accomplish. Blagojevich has the power under the state constitution to unilaterally cut spending, and House Speaker Michael Madigan, the governor's archnemesis in Springfield, has made it clear he intends to leave his fellow Democrat on the hook for that duty.

"The governor has the authority to bring down the level of spending," Madigan told reporters late Saturday, after the budget passed and was sent to Blagojevich. "… If he feels that the numbers contained in those bills are too high, he can exercise his authority" to trim them.

Blagojevich accused lawmakers of violating the state constitution by passing an unbalanced budget. The state constitution requires that the state appropriations each year aren't higher than anticipated revenue.

"This would be the first time the guy has ever been concerned about a balanced budget," countered Madigan spokesman Steve Brown.

Madigan and Blagojevich have been sharply at odds since last year's budgetary showdown, in which Blagojevich tried to force his universal health care agenda into law over the objections of Madigan, who said the state couldn't afford it.

Brown said if Blagojevich calls the legislative leaders into a special meeting, Madigan will likely send a representative rather than attending himself.