BLOOMINGTON Gov. Bruce Rauner expressed optimism on Wednesday about an agreement being reached on a balanced budget for Illinois, but he declined to speculate on when that might happen.

I don't think anybody knows, Rauner said during a meeting with The Pantagraph's editorial board, but he added, I'm heartened by for the first time both sides of the aisle acknowledging we should have significant structural change to have a balanced budget.

They're talking about the right issues, including pension reform, workers' compensation, property taxes and a new school funding formula, he said.

He applauded a measure recently passed by the Illinois House that would freeze property taxes unless voters approve an increase.

Describing it as real tax reform, Rauner said, I hope it gets to my desk.

Without such reforms to control government growth and increase economic growth, Illinois cannot sustain a balanced budget, said Rauner, repeating what he said earlier in the day at a news conference at Heartland Community College in Normal.

It's simple math, he said.

We could get a balanced budget through cuts, said Rauner, but, it would be very painful. It's not my first choice, and it wouldn't be a long-term solution.

We can't cut our way to faster economic growth, he said. We can't tax our way out.

Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan recently filed a motion in court to stop payment of state employees until a budget has been approved. Employees have continued to be paid under a preliminary court injunction Madigan is seeking to have dissolved.

Rauner is urging Comptroller Susana Mendoza to fight against Madigan's move, as her predecessor, Rauner appointee Leslie Munger, did. But so far, Rauner said, he hasn't seen much of a commitment to do so from Mendoza.

Munger, who lost the November election to Mendoza, was named a deputy governor last week by Rauner.

Blocking state employee pay likely would lead to a government shutdown.

A shutdown would be terrible, said Rauner. It would play into the hands of those who want a stopgap budget and a big tax hike.

Meanwhile, the Rauner administration still has been unable to reach a contract agreement with the state's largest employee union, the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Council 31. The council's approximately 35,000 members are in the midst of a strike-authorization vote.

Although a state labor board ruled that the two sides are at an impasse, which would allow the state to implement its last contract offer, union officials blocked that in court.

Rauner said the delay is costing the state $2.3 million to $2.9 million a day.

The governor has reached agreements with most of the other state employee unions and said the contract offered to AFSCME is similar to those offered to other unions.

In explaining the standoff, he said AFSCME "is used to getting their way."

Follow Lenore Sobota on Twitter: @pg_sobota

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Rauner 'heartened' by progress in Springfield - Bloomington Pantagraph