The state of Illinois has it's first budget since 2015.
But as WVIK's Mariah Woelfel reports, there's still a lot of work to be done.
Even some of those who voted to override Governor Bruce Rauner's veto, and give Illinois a 36 billion dollar spending plan aren't that satisfied with the outcome.
"We should have closed more corporate loop holes, we should have had the ultra wealthy pay their fair share," Democratic Representative Mike Halpin, from Rock Island said. "But instead of doing that, we're forced to have an across the board raise and I have really concerns about how that's going to affect working people here in the Quad Cities."
He's talking about a 32 percent increase in the state income tax included in the plan. He originally voted against that part, but changed his mind.
"I ultimately decided at the end of the day that an imperfect budget is better than no budget at all and it's better than the financial ruin that we we're going to be in if we didn't pass a budget."
By finally taking action, Illinois lawmakers did solve a few immediate problems.
Roadwork can now resume on projects funded by the state. Crews are back to work on the project to expand John Deere Road, and Illinois can move forward with its half of the new I-74 bridge.
The budget fully funds MAP grants for college students in Illinois, meaning that Western Illinois and Augustana College will no longer have to foot the multi-million dollar bill, though it's not clear if or when they'll be reimbursed for last year.
Public universities will also face a 10 percent decrease in funding, according to Halpin.
"But at least schools will know when they'll get that money and how much they'll get," he said.
That sentiment seems to be the consensus, at least among many stakeholders in the Quad Cities: that it's better to know when funding will be available, than have no clue what's ahead.
Barb Hailey works with Lutheran Social Services in Illinois.
"Part of the budget contains a 5 percent cut for state agencies so it's still too early to tell how that will impact LSSI in the future, but you know it provides some fiscal clarity for us obviously," she said.
But that certainty--of at least knowing when state money is coming--is not the case for elementary and secondary schools.
And while the budget does fully fund K-12 education, it offers no route towards actually paying those schools.
So United Township Superintendent Jay Morrow says no one is celebrating quite yet.
"We're very concerned because one we have to have our budgets presented to our local governing boards in the next month for approval. We don't know if we're going to have any money or not," he said.
Whether they get the money depends on another dispute in Springfield: the one over the school funding formula.
There are two current proposals--one by democrats and one by republicans. The democratic proposal passed the General Assembly in May, but Gov. Rauner has vowed to veto it, saying it's a bailout for Chicago Public Schools.
And Republican Representative Tony McCombie from Savanna, who voted against the budget, says there's no way Democrats will convince Republican legislators to side with them this time.
"Yeah you're not going to get the override on this one," she said. "They're not willing to put Chicago students ahead of their own."
So k-12 educators don't know when they'll see future money, or the millions that they're owed from last year -- part of the 15 billion dollars in unpaid bills that McCombie says this budget barely addresses.
"The plan to pay back the 15 billion dollar backlog is really about borrowing, sweeping money, moving money around," she said. "It's not really about paying down the debt."
She suspects lawmakers will be back in Springfield soon to work on the school funding formula, and other reforms they put aside to pass this budget.
And on that, Halpin agrees.
"We've got a lot of work that still needs to be done.," he said. "Even though we have a balanced budget, there are reforms in the works for workers compensation, pension reform, a property tax freeze and those discussions are continuing through our working groups and I'm pretty confident that we'll be able to reach an agreement on those."
But, those were some of the same issues that have held the budget hostage for the past two years.