Quinn’s budget plan presents bad news for students, prisons
CHICAGO – Gov. Pat Quinn used his new authority over the state budget on Friday to reduce spending cuts for programs that help abused children and other vulnerable Illinois residents while offering bad news for prison guards, college students and more.
The Democratic governor argued that even after slashing the budget, Illinois has a major hole in its budget and unmet needs in important services.
The fairest way to change that is to raise the income tax, he said.
“We have cut. We have cut from here to kingdom come,” Quinn said at a news conference. “We’ve done all this, but we have to deal with the fiscal reality that we have a revenue shortfall to pay our bills.”
Lawmakers gave Quinn the job of deciding where to cut about $1 billion in spending and how to divvy up $3.4 billion in lump sums.
Quinn offered his first explanation Friday of what he intended to do.
Much of the money available will be used to pay local organizations that provide child care, drug counseling and similar services on behalf of the state.
They still face a reduction in state support but not the deep cuts that were once proposed.
Quinn also put money into the state’s child-welfare agency and the State Board of Education, reversing some of the school cuts that were announced last week.
But Quinn said he still planned to eliminate about 2,600 jobs, including 1,000 at the Department of Corrections.
That amounts to almost 10 percent of the department’s total work force.
Quinn chief of staff Jerome Stermer said one prison might be closed, others would be reduced in size and the number of inmates would be cut.
He would provide no details.
Money for the Illinois Student Assistance Commission, which provides college scholarships, will be cut by more than half. As a result, the commission will not offer its Monetary Award Program next spring.
Unions representing state employees or workers at local agencies that are paid by the state took up Quinn’s call for a tax increase.
“Every Illinoisan must demand that lawmakers and the governor renounce these damaging cuts, commit to raising new revenue, and return to the Capitol as soon as necessary to fix this broken budget,” said Henry Bayer, the top Illinois official for the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees.
Keith Kelleher, Illinois president of the Service Employees International Union, added: “The General Assembly’s failure to pass a responsible budget with a plan for new revenue means that vital programs and services that families count on face billions of dollars in devastating cuts.”
Democratic legislative leaders, particularly Senate President John Cullerton, are interested in tackling a tax increase, perhaps early next year. Republicans signaled Friday that they remain opposed.
“House Republicans continue to stand up for Illinois taxpayers who believe they should not have to contribute more of their hard-earned income to a broken system,” said House Minority Leader Tom Cross, R-Oswego.
Quinn’s actions Friday were the latest twist in efforts to close an $11.6 billion budget deficit.
Quinn originally proposed filling the gap with spending cuts, budget maneuvers and a tax increase.
Legislators rejected the tax increase. That resulted in a stalemate that saw the state’s new budget year begin on July 1 without a budget in place. Eventually, Quinn and the Legislature agreed on a plan to paper over the deficit by borrowing money, allowing bills to go unpaid and promising to make unspecified cuts.
Lawmakers left many of the hard decisions to Quinn. He said Friday that they didn’t want their fingerprints on the cuts necessary to balance the budget.
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On the Net: www.budget.illinois.gov
Associated Press writer Christopher Wills reported from Springfield. Associated Press Writer David Mercer contributed from Champaign.
By CHRISTOPHER WILLS and DEANNA BELLANDI - The Associated Press
