State fund crunch sets off a squabble

SPRINGFIELD The state's checkbook balance "dropped sodrastically" in August that "additional extraordinary measures" maybe necessary, Illinois Comptroller Roland W. Burris warned yesterday.

Richard Kolhauser, the governor's deputy budget director,accused Burris of "either an oversight or a misrepresentation."Kolhauser said a dip at the end of August in the general fund balancewas a one-month statistical freak caused by a special school-aidpayment.

Gov. Thompson, a Republican, "is simply living beyond hisbudgetary means," said Burris, a Democrat.

Burris said the balance in the general fund - the workhorseaccount of the $20 billion state budget - fell to …