Local service agencies ponder grim future after budget cuts
Tension and uncertainty over state budget decisions have social service agencies in McHenry County bracing for massive funding cuts in the coming weeks.
Several organizations, including the Youth Service Bureau and the Pioneer Center for Human Services, met Tuesday to outline what agency representatives called the devastating impact of proposed state funding cuts. The agencies estimated more than $6.7 million in total funding cuts for McHenry County organizations, which could affect at least 12,300 residents.
“We have provided, in our collaborative efforts in McHenry County, a safety net for the citizens of McHenry County,” said Robert Martens, chief executive officer for the Family Service & Community Mental Health Center. “That safety net is being torn apart piece by piece. This budget proposal from the governor is not addressing those issues.”
Among other cuts slated for his organization, Martens expected to lose $200,000 in state funding for substance abuse programs, which could leave more than 300 residents deprived of what he called a crucial resource.
Martens called the budget impasse and threatened funding cuts “a lot of political theater.”
“I want to see something change,” he said. “I want to see our legislators do their job.”
However, with Illinois facing one of the worst budget crises in state history, some say legislators must make sweeping changes to the budget’s structure, which could take time.
Gov. Pat Quinn’s proposed cuts include $5 billion in state funding for community-provided programs and another $4.2 billion in state-provided services.
The cuts would mean ending child-care assistance, eliminating programs for the elderly and people with disabilities, cutting financial aid for Illinois college students and putting more than 10,000 state employees out of work.
Quinn is trying to increase pressure on legislators to raise income taxes and make other changes to the budget they approved last month. He said their version would require slashing $9.2 billion in spending.
Legislative leaders and Quinn have been negotiating an alternative budget, but so far hadn’t come to an agreement. The group was set to meet again today.
Quinn remained optimistic Tuesday that they could work out a deal even though lawmakers were resistant to his income tax increase proposal. The governor said he wanted lawmakers back in Springfield next week to fix the budget.
“I am not bluffing,” he said Tuesday. “I’m not a good bluffer. That’s why I don’t play poker.”
Some legislators have accused Quinn of using scare tactics to frighten people about budget cuts that might never take place. But providers said the situation went beyond political posturing.
“The bottom line is we are $9 billion short on revenue,” said Ralph Martire, executive director of the Chicago-based Center for Tax and Budget Accountability. “There is no way to smoke and mirror your way through a hole that big.”
Martire also said Illinois can’t simply “cut” itself out of the nearly $12 billion budget deficit and warned that if the funding cuts went through as proposed, the effects would radiate into the private sector.
“It’s not a bluff,” he said. “The cuts on the table are only the tip of the iceberg.”
This isn’t encouraging news for McHenry County’s community-based organizations, which are feeling the push and pull of what some have called political games.
“It feels like they’re playing chicken, and I’m in the middle,” said Susan A. Krause, executive director of the McHenry County Youth Service Bureau. The organization provides counseling services to young people and their families.
“It’s so darn scary,” Krause added. “There are only two weeks left until the end of the fiscal year.”
Krause said she anticipated that her organization would lose more than half of its funding, which could force her to eliminate several programs, including child delinquency services.
“Something has to happen very quickly,” Krause said of budget negotiations in Springfield. “Otherwise, I’m going to have to start figuring out which programs I have to close and which clients I have to notify of the discontinuation of services.”
In addition to immediate staff layoffs and service reductions, Lorraine Kopczynski predicted that the state funding cuts would lead to further financial distress for already struggling social service agencies. Kopczynski serves as president and CEO of the Pioneer Center for Human Services, which offers vocational training for the disabled.
“We haven’t seen the domino effect,” Kopczynski said. “If we don’t have the clients in the workshop to do the subcontracts, we won’t be able to make the money that offsets some of the deficit.”
Despite the effects on individual organizations, it was the collective impact of funding cuts to social services across the county that the agencies found worrisome.
“The devastation that we’re going to see is that people won’t have anyone to call, people won’t have anyone to say this is what we can do for you, this is how we can link you to another person,” said Cindy Sullivan, executive director of Options & Advocacy.
• The Associate Press contributed to this report