McHenry County mental health agencies losing $6.75M
WOODSTOCK – McHenry County mental health agencies and Gov. Pat Quinn had similar plans Tuesday – both spent the day announcing spending cuts.
Twenty agencies served by the McHenry County Mental Health Board stand to lose at least $6.75 million in state money as a result of the ongoing budget crisis, Executive Director Sandy Lewis told the County Board at its Tuesday meeting. This translates to 6,806 clients who will not be able to take advantage of the agencies’ services.
“There is a human element that cannot be underestimated,” Lewis said.
Lewis’ figures are based on the derided “50 percent” budget passed by the House in the last days of the spring session. Quinn vetoed it after two special sessions, and the state entered its 2010 fiscal year July 1 without a spending plan.
Quinn on Tuesday announced $1 billion in cuts to placate legislative opponents of a 50 percent tax increase to help cover a $9.2 billion deficit. The cuts to the Department of Human Services and the Department of Healthcare and Family Services fall far short of the draconian cuts that Quinn warned would happen without a tax hike. However, social service agencies will not get paid without a budget in place.
The largest losers, according to Lewis, are Family Service and Community Mental Health Center, which is losing $1.9 million, and Pioneer Center for Human Services, which is losing $1.67 million. McHenry County Youth Service Bureau is losing $516,000, while Family Alliance stands to lose $300,000.
The agencies have laid off the equivalent of 15½ full-time positions, and reduced the hours of 11 more employees. More than 120 employees now are taking unpaid furloughs, and 10 positions have been frozen, Lewis said.
That includes two layoffs at the McHenry County Department of Health, Public Health Administrator Patrick McNulty told the County Board. It is anticipating a $122,000 loss without a state budget.
County Board member Sandra Salgado, R-McHenry, works in Pioneer Center’s human resources department and recently sent layoff notices to employees. She called the situation “disgusting” and said that legislators “failed in their primary duty” to craft a budget. Pioneer President and CEO Lorraine Kopczynski has said in recent weeks that the agency would have to close some of its group homes for the mentally disabled if the budget quagmire continued.
Social service agencies have been in the crosshairs for months after dire warnings by Quinn that their budgets would be slashed without a tax increase. But the House is far short of the 71 votes needed in overtime to pass a tax hike. Opponents, including all three McHenry County representatives and both its state senators, want deep and meaningful cuts and reforms before they consider raising taxes during a recession.
The $1 billion in cuts unveiled by Quinn include laying off 2,600 state employees,1,000 of them from the Department of Corrections, and instituting 12 furlough days on other state workers. It also includes moving Medicaid patients to managed care, cutting grants to maximize federal matching funds, and asking other statewide officeholders to trim a total of $25 million from their budgets.
The state Senate plans to meet in special session next Tuesday to address the budget, the day before the first scheduled disbursement of state payments. Senators in May approved a budget that would increase the income tax by 67 percent and impose the state sales tax on a number of services, but the House did not bring it to a vote.
Thresholds, a Woodstock-based agency serving the mentally ill, plans to protest today in front of the offices of state Sen. Pam Althoff, R-McHenry, and state Reps. Mike Tryon, R-Crystal Lake, and Jack Franks, D-Marengo. The agency is losing $166,370 in state funding, according to Lewis’ figures.