Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner addressed the Illinois General Assembly on Wednesday, outlining his plans for next year’s state budget. The poindexters whipped out their calculators.

But the crucial takeaway was broader than an exercise in number-crunching: We’re at the end of the road in Springfield. No more pavement, nothing but dirty orange barricades and languid yellow warning lights.

The lack of a 2015-16 budget agreement between Rauner and Democratic leaders — assert blame where you wish — simply cannot continue, the governor suggested. No one would have guessed on June 25, 2015, when Rauner vetoed the unbalanced-by-$4-billion budget Democratic leaders sent him, that the state would have no spending plan today. Yet here we are.

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The lack of a budget has translated into severe cuts for social service agencies that rely on state government, and for ongoing spending commitments that the state cannot sustain. The stack of overdue bills is rising.

Rauner gave lawmakers two options: Work with him on reforming state government and negotiating higher taxes if necessary, in that order, or give him the authority to slash spending.

“Either you give the executive branch the authority to cut spending to live within our revenues,” he said, “Or, we agree — together — on economic and governmental reforms, to accompany a negotiated balance of spending reductions and revenue, that ensures that Illinois can be both compassionate and competitive. You choose. But please, choose now.”

Choose now. That will be difficult for Democratic leaders who, in all these months of gridlock, haven’t risked laying out a taxes-and-cuts plan for crafting a balanced budget.

Of course, speeches don’t solve problems. They do offer glimpses of intent, however.

Immediately after Rauner closed his remarks on a conciliatory tone: “with my hand outstretched with a genuine desire to compromise, with respect, I humbly ask you to join me in transforming our state for the better,” House Speaker Michael Madigan and Senate President John Cullerton began their customary rebukes of the governor. It’s like clockwork under the statehouse dome.

Madigan insisted that lawmakers would not bend on Rauner’s attempts to limit collective bargaining. Never mind that Rauner said not every item of his “turnaround agenda” would have to be enacted “in their current forms” — yet another indication he’s willing to deal. Cullerton huffed that Rauner’s proposal wasn’t legitimate because it didn’t include enough detail.

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