Post by title1parent on Jul 2, 2010 5:51:09 GMT -5
www.suburbanchicagonews.com/napervillesun/news/2454178,quinn-illinois-budget-070110.article
Quinn to cut $1.4 billion from state budget
July 1, 2010
BY DAVE McKINNEY and and MONIFA THOMAS Staff Reporters
Gov. Quinn moved today to whack $1.4 billion from the state budget, but the Democratic governor did not outline where more than half of those cuts would occur.
In signing a spending plan for the 2011 fiscal year, which began today, Quinn said his primary objective was to preserve the state’s core functions in the face of a suffocating $12.5 billion deficit.
“This is a day-by-day, case-by-case, agency-by-agency, program-by-program enterprise to make sure we still deliver the basic services to the people that they need: schools, health care, public safety,” Quinn said.
Of the $1.4 billion that Quinn vowed to cut -- part of nearly $3 billion he said he has trimmed since taking office in January 2009 -- the governor included $891 million in reductions that he did not identify. He said he will make those on his own, using extraordinary budget-cutting powers given to him by state lawmakers this spring.
The cuts Quinn did outline will mean significant spending reductions in human-services programs and education -- areas that cover a wide swathe of his voting base in his gubernatorial campaign.
“I’ve got to adopt a budget for our state that still invests in Illinois, the important things, and cuts back everything that’s not a priority,” the governor said.
Under Quinn’s plan, the state Department of Human Services will see its funding cut by $312.6 million from 2010 levels, with much of those reductions targeting programs for the mentally ill and developmentally disabled.
Quinn also cut education spending by $241 million. While he vowed to maintain early-childhood programs and general state aid funding -- Springfield’s main financial lifeline to school districts -- he took aim at busing reimbursements and reading block grants.
Universities will take a $100 million hit under the spending plan Quinn accepted. The reduction largely has to do with the end of federal stimulus dollars.
Public health spending will drop by $17 million, with reductions targeting prostate cancer awareness, immunization programs and women’s health promotion grants.
Spending in the state prisons will drop by $41.9 million, though that will be the result of tighter control over overtime costs.
One area where state spending actually figures to increase is subsidized health care. The Department of Healthcare and Family Services budget will grow by $162 million in the new fiscal year to take advantage of federal matching dollars for Medicaid.
Despite the cuts, Quinn drew criticism from his GOP gubernatorial rival, state Sen. Bill Brady (R-Bloomington), who characterized the governor’s steps as “too little too late” and a byproduct of the “old Rod Blagojevich razzle-dazzle machine.” “Gov. Quinn today cut less than one-half percent from the state budget with a supposed promise to cut more. The people of Illinois know that those cuts won’t happen. Last year, Gov. Quinn promised to cut spending by $1 billion and instead state spending increased,” Brady said.
Brady’s own budget ideas have focused mostly on cost-cutting and no state- or sales-tax increases. He repeatedly has avoided being pinned down on how he specifically would get the state from beneath its $13 billion deficit.
Quinn’s cuts alone won’t come close to erasing a $6 billion backlog of unpaid bills. About $3.3 billion of that tab to nursing homes, pharmacies, social service providers and other state vendors will be covered through borrowing, said his budget director, David Vaught.
And how exactly the state will make a $3.7 billion payment owed to the state’s pension systems also is unclear. Quinn had proposed borrowing to cover that amount, but the proposal hit a roadblock in the state Senate and there are no signs that plan will be revived any time before the fall elections.
To many human service providers, Quinn’s actions were not unexpected but were still dreaded because of how services for some of the state’s most vulnerable people will be drastically altered or eliminated.
“This is the most dire circumstance that I’ve seen in 30 years,” said Robert Okazaki, executive director of Avenues to Independence, who was told by the state this week that 24 of the 75 disabled people receiving residential treatment from his agency no longer will be eligible for state funding.
Treatment Alternatives for Safe Communities, which advocates for people in courts and prisons who need substance abuse treatment, expects to receive a 7.5-percent cut this year, on top of a 22-percent cut last year.
“In these two years, we will serve 2,500 fewer people,” spokeswoman Daphne Baille said. “At a time when more people than ever are dying from heroin and this crisis is not letting up at all, it’s a tragedy that prevention and treatment are being cut even further.”
Quinn to cut $1.4 billion from state budget
July 1, 2010
BY DAVE McKINNEY and and MONIFA THOMAS Staff Reporters
Gov. Quinn moved today to whack $1.4 billion from the state budget, but the Democratic governor did not outline where more than half of those cuts would occur.
In signing a spending plan for the 2011 fiscal year, which began today, Quinn said his primary objective was to preserve the state’s core functions in the face of a suffocating $12.5 billion deficit.
“This is a day-by-day, case-by-case, agency-by-agency, program-by-program enterprise to make sure we still deliver the basic services to the people that they need: schools, health care, public safety,” Quinn said.
Of the $1.4 billion that Quinn vowed to cut -- part of nearly $3 billion he said he has trimmed since taking office in January 2009 -- the governor included $891 million in reductions that he did not identify. He said he will make those on his own, using extraordinary budget-cutting powers given to him by state lawmakers this spring.
The cuts Quinn did outline will mean significant spending reductions in human-services programs and education -- areas that cover a wide swathe of his voting base in his gubernatorial campaign.
“I’ve got to adopt a budget for our state that still invests in Illinois, the important things, and cuts back everything that’s not a priority,” the governor said.
Under Quinn’s plan, the state Department of Human Services will see its funding cut by $312.6 million from 2010 levels, with much of those reductions targeting programs for the mentally ill and developmentally disabled.
Quinn also cut education spending by $241 million. While he vowed to maintain early-childhood programs and general state aid funding -- Springfield’s main financial lifeline to school districts -- he took aim at busing reimbursements and reading block grants.
Universities will take a $100 million hit under the spending plan Quinn accepted. The reduction largely has to do with the end of federal stimulus dollars.
Public health spending will drop by $17 million, with reductions targeting prostate cancer awareness, immunization programs and women’s health promotion grants.
Spending in the state prisons will drop by $41.9 million, though that will be the result of tighter control over overtime costs.
One area where state spending actually figures to increase is subsidized health care. The Department of Healthcare and Family Services budget will grow by $162 million in the new fiscal year to take advantage of federal matching dollars for Medicaid.
Despite the cuts, Quinn drew criticism from his GOP gubernatorial rival, state Sen. Bill Brady (R-Bloomington), who characterized the governor’s steps as “too little too late” and a byproduct of the “old Rod Blagojevich razzle-dazzle machine.” “Gov. Quinn today cut less than one-half percent from the state budget with a supposed promise to cut more. The people of Illinois know that those cuts won’t happen. Last year, Gov. Quinn promised to cut spending by $1 billion and instead state spending increased,” Brady said.
Brady’s own budget ideas have focused mostly on cost-cutting and no state- or sales-tax increases. He repeatedly has avoided being pinned down on how he specifically would get the state from beneath its $13 billion deficit.
Quinn’s cuts alone won’t come close to erasing a $6 billion backlog of unpaid bills. About $3.3 billion of that tab to nursing homes, pharmacies, social service providers and other state vendors will be covered through borrowing, said his budget director, David Vaught.
And how exactly the state will make a $3.7 billion payment owed to the state’s pension systems also is unclear. Quinn had proposed borrowing to cover that amount, but the proposal hit a roadblock in the state Senate and there are no signs that plan will be revived any time before the fall elections.
To many human service providers, Quinn’s actions were not unexpected but were still dreaded because of how services for some of the state’s most vulnerable people will be drastically altered or eliminated.
“This is the most dire circumstance that I’ve seen in 30 years,” said Robert Okazaki, executive director of Avenues to Independence, who was told by the state this week that 24 of the 75 disabled people receiving residential treatment from his agency no longer will be eligible for state funding.
Treatment Alternatives for Safe Communities, which advocates for people in courts and prisons who need substance abuse treatment, expects to receive a 7.5-percent cut this year, on top of a 22-percent cut last year.
“In these two years, we will serve 2,500 fewer people,” spokeswoman Daphne Baille said. “At a time when more people than ever are dying from heroin and this crisis is not letting up at all, it’s a tragedy that prevention and treatment are being cut even further.”
