51 Comments - Kerfuffle - Thursday, Feb 16, 12 @ 9:27 am: It will be interesting to see which facilities he has slated for closure and if they fall equally in Democratic as well as Republican controlled districts. - Cassiopeia - Thursday, Feb 16, 12 @ 9:27 am: Perhaps Quinn will have finally gotten his budgetary act together and will make some real reductions. Rumors are flying that there will be some sizable reductions in programs in many departments. Perhaps he has been listening to people who have been pointing out the inefficiencies that abound in antiquated programs throughout government. Hope springs eternal. - Rich Miller - Thursday, Feb 16, 12 @ 9:30 am: ===and if they fall equally in Democratic as well as Republican controlled districts. === That won’t be possible because so many state facilities are in GOP districts. That was by design, not accidental, by the way. - Chris - Thursday, Feb 16, 12 @ 9:33 am: “Perhaps Quinn will have finally gotten his budgetary act together and will make some real reductions.” Big 2! Looks like PQ is continuing the move toward acting like a Guv. But, talk is *really* cheap, and I won’t buy it til there’s consistent action behind the words. - transplant - Thursday, Feb 16, 12 @ 9:46 am: Not so sure about that. Expecting to hear about a release of $47 million today for Mt. Vernon Township High School. - Kerfuffle - Thursday, Feb 16, 12 @ 9:53 am: ===That won’t be possible because so many state facilities are in GOP districts. === Perhaps a better choice of words would have been “proportionately” given the disproportionate placement of current facilities. - CircularFiringSquad - Thursday, Feb 16, 12 @ 9:58 am: That won’t be possible because so many state facilities are in GOP districts. That was by design, not accidental, by the way. It wasn’t an “accident”. The facilities are in places with the NIMBYS would not whine about convicts, pyschos, etc being in their pristine neighborhoods….therefore rural IL won and we all know GOPies do best in uncrowded areas - Small Town Liberal - Thursday, Feb 16, 12 @ 9:59 am: Good for Quinn, it’s time to remind these communities about the hand that feeds them. Maybe they’ll figure out what’s more valuable to them, a couple percent on their income taxes or a facility that keeps their community viable. Even better if this can be a way to get support for the graduated income tax amendment. - TCB - Thursday, Feb 16, 12 @ 9:59 am: I doubt this list will be much of a surprise to most people. I think Quinn made up his mind on his list of closures last fall. I fully expect this list to be identical to the list he submitted last fall before the legislature reallocated money from other parts of the budget to save those facilities……I wouldn’t be surprised to see Murphysboro on the DJJ list & Lincoln Prison on the DOC list again. - Rich Miller - Thursday, Feb 16, 12 @ 10:05 am: ===Expecting to hear about a release of $47 million today for Mt. Vernon Township High School. === Capital money? - MS MOM - Thursday, Feb 16, 12 @ 10:14 am: The state needs to have a needle disposal facility in every town. My son with autism picked up a used needle that fell off the garbage truck and to make things worse I live in a school zone. - state worker - Thursday, Feb 16, 12 @ 10:19 am: Sounds like Quinn is taking the reins with a dire financial situation. The real test will be how he handles the backlash from legislators who want to scapegoat him in order to keep facilities open in their district but don’t want to increase taxes, or cut tax relief, or refinance old debt, or any other hard decision. If his list is longer, then it isn’t going to bevthe same as last time. Good for him. Our overincarcerstion is a boondoggle, youth prisons are a boondoggle, and it has to be cut. - Scott Summers - Thursday, Feb 16, 12 @ 10:22 am: The governor and the General Assembly face excruciatingly difficult decisions about what and where to cut. I do not envy them their task. But they need a thoughtful and comprehensive set of plans for going about it. Incremental, ad hoc, on again-off again, out-of context, now-you-see-them-now-you-don’t, meat cleaver sorts of cuts simply aren’t going to work very well. What they (and we) need over the intermediate to longer term is something similar to the Pentagon base closure commissions. Remember those? The blue ribbon experts come in and do the meticulous analysis, and then Congress goes with a straight up-or-down vote on a recommended list of military facilities to close. There is anguish, there is pain, there is inequity, there is dysfunction, there is dislocation, there is wailing, there is gnashing of teeth –- but the bases get closed in stages, and life goes on. Here in Illinois, everything needs to be on the table. There will be analysis. There will be hearings. A set of recommendations will be presented. And ideally, the members of the General Assembly will see fit to adopt in full the commission findings — exceedingly difficult as that process surely will be. The time has come. Call it — “Rightsizing Illinois”. Our political leaders — and yes, we Illinoisans — need to team up and get it done. - mark walker - Thursday, Feb 16, 12 @ 10:22 am: Oxen to be gored all over the state, in this process. - Peggy R/Southern - Thursday, Feb 16, 12 @ 10:22 am: So, there are no possible cuts to be made in the Capitol City itself? Not one useless paper and pencil pusher that can be eliminated? All the cuts must be out in the field? In legislators’ districts, but not in the capitol? - Taylor Thomas - Thursday, Feb 16, 12 @ 10:27 am: RM @ 10:05 Mt. Vernon schools (along with Marion and Shawnee) are getting capital funds: http://thesouthern.com/news/local/local-schools-get-building-money/article_0bf62722-5856-11e1-b96f-001871e3ce6c.html - Bill - Thursday, Feb 16, 12 @ 10:36 am: Here we go again. - Rich Miller - Thursday, Feb 16, 12 @ 10:42 am: Peggy R, where did you read that? - Informer - Thursday, Feb 16, 12 @ 10:45 am: I sit and think just how many of these facilities would have been able to maintain had not thar 700 or so millions been devoted to the train from Alton to Dwight. Perhaps many of the people that will lose the facilities benefits can take endless train rides instead - Boscobud - Thursday, Feb 16, 12 @ 10:51 am: How about Pension cuts? That would count for I bet millions. - cassandra - Thursday, Feb 16, 12 @ 10:53 am: I hope we are entering an era in which as many of our fellow citizens as possible can live in the community, near families and friends, and not in institutions. This includes prisons as well as facilities for the disabled, nursing homes as well as youth jails by the way. Nevertheless, the reality is likely to be disappointing, not only because so many local economies and government bureaucrats depend on these institutions for a good living but because we ourselves are not always as accommodating as we could be in our personal lives. When a group home sets up down the block, will we support it? We have to look at ourselves too. - Rich Miller - Thursday, Feb 16, 12 @ 10:54 am: ===had not thar 700 or so millions been devoted to the train=== That’s federal and bond money. You can’t use that cash to keep facilities open. Try to catch up here, man. - Rich Miller - Thursday, Feb 16, 12 @ 10:56 am: ===How about Pension cuts?=== Leader Cross’ pension reform bill requires an additional billion dollars be spent on pensions next fiscal year. - Michelle Flaherty - Thursday, Feb 16, 12 @ 11:00 am: Peggy, perhaps you could do a google search for the number of state employees 10 years ago compared to now. I believe you’ll find there are THOUSANDS fewer. Believe it or not, many of them used to be in Springfield. - zatoichi - Thursday, Feb 16, 12 @ 11:02 am: Talks of cutting is fine, but where is the follow up talk of what happens next? Those youth in the ‘youth prisons’. Where do they go? where do they sleep next? Set free? Probation at home? Local county jail? The state facilities: close them all sounds like a great plan. Again where to the people go next? Enough community beds? What happens to the individuals where it simply does not work (and there appears to be many needing very expensive support)? Ignore the ripple effects just begs for huge problems later. COFGA was not exactly kind at the recent hearings in Springfield when it was pointed out the master plan from DHS did not have budgeted costs not just for the closing action but nothing for developing community living settings, ex-employee retraining, what happens to the existing facilities and something as simple as rates to pay for where the people move. It’s not simply close something and there are 100% savings with no additional costs. - reformer - Thursday, Feb 16, 12 @ 11:24 am: Quinn makes a fair point about legislators who want to have it both ways. They not only opposed the income tax hike, but want to repeal it immediately, but then complain to the high heavens when an old state facility in their district is threatened with closure. When our GOP friends insist the budget be “CUT, CUT, CUT” they really mean “Cuts for thee, but not for me.” - reformer - Thursday, Feb 16, 12 @ 11:27 am: Peggy Illinois has the fewest state workers per capita of any state. The state worker headcount has declined by 16,000 since 2002. Illinois spends the fifth lowest amount per capita among the 50 states. But don’t let the inconvenient truth affect your view of the world. - Shock & Awww(e) - Thursday, Feb 16, 12 @ 11:31 am: Is PQ finally get his game together? These will be worthy of support if: - He actually has a solid plan behind these proposals. If it turns out to be posturing, scare tactics or him just blowing in the wind again, then phooey. - These closures are cuts of last resort. If he proposes shunning the weak and vulnerable among us, or releasing violent individuals, without making cuts to services largely viewed as less vital, then phooey. If PQ presents a solid plan, then these closures will deserve objective consideration and likely support regardless of partisanship. If not, he will wind up doing lasting damage to the last dregs of his credibility among many. Let’s go, PQ. We need you to step up and surprise us here. Show us what you got. Por favor. - bored now - Thursday, Feb 16, 12 @ 11:31 am: Kerfuffle: why should any facilities in democratic districts be closed? democrats are willing to make the difficult votes to keep them open. republicans aren’t. so let’s close ‘em in their districts. heck, close them all! if they are truly needed, i’m sure there’s some poor democratic legislator who wants them in their district… - Boscobud - Thursday, Feb 16, 12 @ 11:39 am: Everyone stop the blame game!!!! Both sides are to blame. GET OVER IT!!!! - cassandra - Thursday, Feb 16, 12 @ 11:39 am: But doesn’t Illinois also contract out more state government work than other states. This would affect headcount, I presume. And since the state has a big role as economic engine, I would guess this helps the economy a good deal. Anyway, not sure you can just look at # of state employees per capita to get a clear picture of how state govt work is allocated. - Ava - Thursday, Feb 16, 12 @ 11:42 am: wouldn’t it be nice if Quinn has the courage to close the bloated, outrageously expensive Tamms prison. It costs $90,000 a year per prisoner, is never even half full, and creates a class of mentally disturbed inmates. - Informer - Thursday, Feb 16, 12 @ 11:49 am: ===had not thar 700 or so millions been devoted to the train=== Actually its 1.4 billion. The 700 million is the states ante. Try and keep focused on facts instead of your liberal causes for a change - WazUp - Thursday, Feb 16, 12 @ 11:58 am: The bitter complaint will be closing core state services while creating new programs, promising raises, and in general wasting our $. - Colossus - Thursday, Feb 16, 12 @ 12:01 pm: This thread might as well be under a bridge for all the trolls. At least, I sincerely hope they’re trolls and not honestly expressing an opinion that the state can cut its way out of trouble without closing any facilities anywhere while simultaneously rolling back the tax hike and giving preferential treatment to (7 figure) profitable businesses. C’mon, Quinn. We need you to not falter here. This is it, your last shot at getting this whole “public service” thing right. You made it, high as you could imaging going. Now that you’re here, it’s time to do the right thing and worry more about doing your job than keeping your job. I have high hopes, Governor. - Peggy R/Southern - Thursday, Feb 16, 12 @ 12:35 pm: Rich, I raise Qs because all the talk I have read from Quinn is related to closing various types of seemingly important facilities–law enforcement, mental health, eg–in the field. (If some low use facilities can be closed to fiscal benefit w/low public safety concerns, then fine.) I have not read any indication of plans to decreased centralized administrative costs of state agencies. I ask b/c I haven’t read such things. So, are there such plans? Cassandra notes that the state contracts out jobs, thereby possibly keeping state employee head count low, but still spending $. And the welfare state has to be cut back. We have to face that. Keep aid for those in most need of course. But we’ve got to limit eligibility and/or amounts paid out. Let’s be honest here. - Small Town Liberal - Thursday, Feb 16, 12 @ 12:40 pm: - But we’ve got to limit eligibility and/or amounts paid out. - Apparently you missed Quinn’s actions regarding investigating Medicaid eligibility that were covered on this blog yesterday. - Peggy R/Southern - Thursday, Feb 16, 12 @ 12:48 pm: STL, Investigations of current recipients is good, but we need to look at the law/admin rules that set the criteria for eligibility. It is time to be more restrictive b/c we just don’t have the money. - dupage dan - Thursday, Feb 16, 12 @ 1:32 pm: What is the biggest hole in the state budget, short and long term? Isn’t it programs like medicaid? Hasn’t the state lowered eligibility requirments for those benefits? What has that done to the anticipated costs of this program? Pensions are another challenge. As a state employee I am, of course, concerned about my own retirement. However, the sustainability of these pensions should be on the minds of all citizens/taxpayers since we are on the hook for all monies due on current benefits accrued. Identifying places where funding can be cut is important. Some of these facilities are very old and repair/maintenance is using up valuable revenue. Closing them will likely have impact locally. Life is unfair to many in this state. I would hope that this is only the first of many decisions PQ will be making that addresses the very serious/calamatous financial issues that are hurtling towards us. Could this be some type of “trial balloon” that PQ is floating? What happens if/when he proposes and the firestorm is unleashed? Can we expect more/deep cuts in the programs that make up the largest expenditures in state gov’t? Where real reductions can be made that will seriously reduce the massive liabilities the state has created for itself? - reformer - Thursday, Feb 16, 12 @ 2:50 pm: Peggy, Cassandra Maybe you missed the fact that our state is the fifth lowest spending state per capita. So contracting out doesn’t hide exorbitant spending. Try again. - cassandra - Thursday, Feb 16, 12 @ 4:20 pm: Reformer- I didn’t say contracting out was hiding anything. I said that looking at state workers per capita alone across the county doesn’t give a comprehensive picture. I also noted that contracting out very likely has a stimulating effect on local economies, and given the importance of government spending in repairing economies these days, this is very likely a positive effect. What are you trying to reform, by the way? - Yellow Dog Democrat - Thursday, Feb 16, 12 @ 4:40 pm: Rich - Re: Your January 24th Post :D YDD - Yellow Dog Democrat - Thursday, Feb 16, 12 @ 4:44 pm: @DuPage Dan - Is life “unfair”? In my view, those communities should have been fighting for sustainable economic development 10 or 20 years ago. I note with some irony that the 1999 capital bill contained more money for prison construction than school construction. That money would have been better spent building schools, manufacturing plants, or left in the taxpayers pockets even. I’m sorry that they got addicted to prisons and didn’t have a plan to kick the habit. But that’s not Quinn’s fault. - Yellow Dog Democrat - Thursday, Feb 16, 12 @ 4:47 pm: === so many state facilities are in GOP districts. That was by design, not accidental, by the way. === True Dat! The GOP would like us to forget that most of the facility-building happened under Governor Thompson. You know, the guy who issued the Executive Order requiring a letter of recommendation from your County GOP Chairman in order to get a job working in one of those taxpayer funded facilities. AFSCME was pretty loyal to the GOP throughout all of those years, as I recall. - Concerned Voter - Thursday, Feb 16, 12 @ 4:58 pm: Rich, There are many references to different state facilites possibly being closed. I have a question, as a state employee, I understand the idea behind CMS as a purchasing agent for the state, but it has gotten ridiculous, the layers and costs that CMS adds to the state’s budget. And when it comes to agencies/consolidation, (list of all state agencies - http://www2.illinois.gov/pages/agencies.aspxdo) It seems like there are agencies that overlap and could be combined. Wouldn’t solve the whole problem, but could be a start. Could there be some consolidation there? Just asking. - state worker - Thursday, Feb 16, 12 @ 4:59 pm: ===Yellow Dog Democrat wrote: In my view, those communities should have been fighting for sustainable economic development 10 or 20 years ago. I note with some irony that the 1999 capital bill contained more money for prison construction than school construction. That money would have been better spent building schools, manufacturing plants, or left in the taxpayers pockets even.=== I’m a Yellow Dog Republican and YDD has it right. Over-incarceration is something that even Republicans across the nation are now recognizing was a mistake. It was not based on fiscal sense and we have blown a lot of money on it. It doesn’t reduce crime or increase public safety and now that we are out of money, we have to stop the cycle. Breaking an addiction is hard, but we have to do it. Downstaters need sustainable economic development. Their economies have been artificially inflated and we just don’t have the money any more. - wordslinger - Thursday, Feb 16, 12 @ 5:11 pm: ===and if they fall equally in Democratic as well as Republican controlled districts. === –That won’t be possible because so many state facilities are in GOP districts. That was by design, not accidental, by the way. – Such a conundrum. - Quill - Thursday, Feb 16, 12 @ 5:50 pm: —Downstaters need sustainable economic development. Their economies have been artificially inflated and we just don’t have the money any more. — State worker is totally correct. It’s painful to see people fight tooth and nail for their economies when the real fight was lost long ago. Downstaters need real alternatives, not pipe dreams. - In the Sticks - Thursday, Feb 16, 12 @ 10:58 pm: Until recently, there was no school construction in the state capital budget. The capital budget focused on state owned facilities while school districts built their own schools. Did that start at the end of Ryan’s term or later? A significant portion of the last capital bill (FY10), was not for state facilities - it was member initiatives, grants for mental health clinics, early childhood facilities while state owned facilities have not had regular repair, maintenance and renovation for 10 years. Agencies and facilities long ago cut their repair budgets. Now they pay extra to have CMS provide services. - wishbone - Thursday, Feb 16, 12 @ 11:15 pm: Stop the senseless war on drugs. Big money saver and potentially a big tax source. California is leading the way. - Yellow Dog Democrat - Friday, Feb 17, 12 @ 7:12 am: BTW, Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels has been pushing to shift money away from prisons. Republicans in Washington State, Louisiana, Kentucky and elsewhere have already done it. The former US Attorney General under Reagan and Bush says we should do it. Getting “Smart on Crime” is not a Pat Quinn idea or a Democratic idea. It makes social AND fiscal sense. Sorry, comments for this post are now closed.