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Budget plans unveiled, sort of

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Illinois

* Lee Newspapers has more on the story about the planned state budget cuts which we discussed a bit yesterday…

In addition to calling for an increase in the income tax rate, Gov. Pat Quinn is asking some of his state agencies to cut back their spending by as much as 14 percent for next year’s budget.

Quinn won’t present plans for his next budget until the spring. But he wants agencies to begin planning to spend far less than they are this year in order to try to cope with the state’s massive deficit. […]

The planned 14 percent in cuts for next fiscal year would target only agencies of “small and medium” sizes, Kraft said. On the small and medium list sent by Quinn’s office are agencies such as the Department of Veterans Affairs and the Environmental Protection Agency.

The full statement from the governor’s office…

The State of Illinois is faced with unprecedented budget challenges that will take a vigorous combination of revenue increases, budget cuts, borrowing and help from the federal government in order to come up with a solution. To that end, The Governor’s Office of Management and Budget has reached out to agencies requesting they work to balance their budget with fiscal restraint.

We have asked small and medium agencies to prepare FY11 budget requests at 14% less than their FY10 budget level. The 14% is not a firm directive but rather an analysis, exercise, and request for information as we engage in a deliberative process with our agencies to address the budget crisis while maintaining vital services to our residents. Everything will be examined on a case by case basis.

We realize that some of the larger agencies have overarching issues that will prevent them from examining the 14% reduction. Therefore, we are meeting with the large agency directors over the next few weeks where we will discuss major spending pressures and opportunities for reductions.

I’ve asked for more detail and the governor’s office sent me a list of what they consider to be small, medium and large agencies. Click here to see the xls file.

* The state isn’t the only government hurting in Illinois, of course. Local governments are really feeling the pinch. The Daily Herald editorial board notices the problem today…

A dramatic trend is evident in even a cursory review of Daily Herald pages these days. Everywhere, it seems, communities face the prospect of steep program or service cuts in order to stave off budget deficits.

A teen center in Arlington Heights. Police and firefighters in Hoffman Estates. Maintenance services in a Pingree Grove subdivision. Furloughs in Aurora. Unspecified layoffs in Palatine.

Local communities and schools, clearly, are heir to the same financial ills afflicting public bodies at the county, state and national levels. Ills also suffered, not irrelevantly, by the citizens and taxpayers from whom governments get their sustenance and whom they are bound to serve.

The Peoria paper also has an editorial today…

Indeed, we’d argue that you don’t need hindsight to recognize that it may not be the best time to slice the ranks of your police department by 40 positions, including 33 police officers. A full, overlapping patrol shift - noon to 8 p.m. - will be eliminated and investigation of gang crimes will be significantly compromised. Both come when the city’s record for murders may be safe - 19 in 1993 - but not much else is, with 14 homicides so far this year, in a decade that has witnessed as much or more bloodshed, most of it gang- and drug-related, as any in the city’s history. Pulling some funds from rainy-day reserves could have softened this blow. […]

You don’t need hindsight to sense that the city getting out of the animal control business will likely lead to more animals in the streets. We may not see 8,000 more, which is the number scooped up by PAWS in 2008. We may not see an evolutionary new hybrid between dog and cat in the River City, either. But who would be surprised if the county does the minimum required of it by state law next year?

And here’s a round-up of a few of the local budget woe stories in today’s Illinois papers…

* Park Dist. may lose programs, 100 jobs

* District 144 bargaining session goes nowhere

* Davlin: City government layoffs inevitable

* Rockford Park District cuts $1.4M in proposed budget

* Peoria City Council approves $165.8 million budget: By a 10-1 vote, the council endorsed a spending plan that was once $14.5 million in the red, a deficit that council people called “unprecedented” and one that was closed with the elimination of 69 positions.

Again, that’s just a few of them. Every day we see more and more of these and it’s just impossible to post them all.

And that’s why GOP gubernatorial candidate Jim Ryan’s proposal to cut way back on revenue sharing for local governments, which we discussed yesterday, needs to be looked at very carefully.

Pushing the pain down the food chain is a common government practice. It happened quite often in the 1980s. Federal officials could point to their few tax hikes with pride, but everybody else down the line had to raise their taxes to make up for lost revenues. It’s no mere coincidence that local property tax rates skyrocketed and the state income tax was raised twice during that decade.

* And the Daily Herald looks at Andy McKenna’s budget proposal…

[McKenna’s proposal] could mean big cuts to state government while only addressing about half of the budget deficit. He didn’t offer specifics about the impact on services and programs. […]

Spending levels likely would need to remain frozen there for three or four years so the state can dig out of “a real deep hole,” said McKenna, former chairman of the Illinois Republican Party.

That means human services agencies that depend on state money also would have to live with less until the state could generate more funds. Extra money can be found through savings realized from proposed efficiencies like expanding Medicaid managed care and changing the state’s pension system, McKenna said. […]

“It would literally mean throwing people out of supportive services they are currently receiving,” said [Daniel Schwick, assistant to the president of Lutheran Social Services of Illinois], whose agency offers services to families, children, seniors and people with disabilities throughout the state.

The threat of large cuts to social service agencies this year sparked outrage among providers and sent the governor and lawmakers scrambling to avoid them.

McKenna, by the way, claims in his TV ads that the state budget deficit is $11 billion and growing by $30 million a day. If that’s true, then the budget deficit for next fiscal year would be about $22 billion. I asked yesterday for clarification and I’ll update you when I hear more.

Discuss.

posted by Rich Miller
Wednesday, Dec 9, 09 @ 10:37 am

Comments

Quinn needed to have issued this request nearly a year ago when everyone knew cuts were coming. He is almost a year late acknowledging that our backs have been to the wall since he has been governor.

Comment by VanillaMan Wednesday, Dec 9, 09 @ 10:53 am
McKenna can’t have it both ways. If the deficit is $11 billion-plus and growing, rolling back to FY07 spending levels is nowhere near enough to stem the tide of red ink. The intellectual dishonesty would be appalling, if it weren’t so commonplace in the campaign.

Interestingly enough, Dillard claims the deficit is significantly smaller, and didn’t absolutely reject a tax increase as a means to balance the budget.

Comment by The Doc Wednesday, Dec 9, 09 @ 11:05 am
The Universities Civil Service Merit Board is a large agency (last entry )? Seriously?

Comment by OneMan Wednesday, Dec 9, 09 @ 11:23 am
You mean the 5 furlough days that about 5% of the state workforce has taken so far didn’t take the state out of the hole? I am thoroughly shocked.

Now rumors of a week long Govt. shutdown swirl. I agree with McKenna I miss 2007 spending levels.

Comment by Furloughed Wednesday, Dec 9, 09 @ 11:26 am
Listen gubenatorial candidates - your “Less filling, tastes great” slogans regarding our fiscal crisis are seen as a sham.

Enough with the simple solutions being presented. We need to start hearing some directness and some honesty. I believe that the candidate that starts demonstrating a concern beyond stating the obvious, is going to find the support needed to win.

Stop playing us for simpletons, and you’ll discover that voters aren’t as stupid as you think. We might even start listening to you.

Comment by VanillaMan Wednesday, Dec 9, 09 @ 11:30 am
Actually, if Andy could get us back to 2002 levels a lot of us would appreciate the increase.

Comment by Bill Wednesday, Dec 9, 09 @ 11:32 am
Good point Bill, I’m sure all of the state universities would love to be “cut back” to 2002 funding levels.

Comment by 47th Ward Wednesday, Dec 9, 09 @ 11:36 am
Rumors are swirling about a week long shutdown where? Not in the agencies. Here in the blog?

Yeah, believe those rumors.

Comment by Macbeth Wednesday, Dec 9, 09 @ 11:40 am
In the agency I work I have heard it as well as the hall of the capitol.

Comment by Furloughed Wednesday, Dec 9, 09 @ 11:41 am
State employee rumors are notoriously unreliable. Please refrain from posting them here. Thanks.

Comment by Rich Miller Wednesday, Dec 9, 09 @ 11:42 am
Although the big/medium/small agencies list appears to only list those agencies under the Governor’s direct jurisdiction, does anyone know or speculate whether the budgets of the constitutionals (e.g. Comptroller, SOS, AG, etc.) and/or the GA will also be subject to the 14% cuts?

Comment by Leatherneck Wednesday, Dec 9, 09 @ 12:01 pm
We got letters in email last month from our director asking for serious suggestions for savings and areas the workers might give thoughts. No clue what or how things are going in other agencies but ours seems to be at least giving the appearance of taking a peek-see in all the little corners.

Comment by Cindy Lou Wednesday, Dec 9, 09 @ 12:18 pm
14% is a start. But Willie Sutton would go here — K-12, human services, Medicaid. That’s where the money is.

Comment by wordslinger Wednesday, Dec 9, 09 @ 12:18 pm
McKenna has no grasp of the budget.

He is one fabrication after another, Blagojevich-like.

Comment by David Ormsby Wednesday, Dec 9, 09 @ 12:22 pm
If Andy wants to get us back to 2002 levels of funding will he also work to get expenses back to 2002 levels. I have not noticed Ameren, BCBS, any local retailer, car dealers, hospitals, or any business saying they are moving their prices back to 2002 levels. The unions willing to kick their salaries back to 2002? If you are funded 90%+ by the state, as many human services are, how are you going to stop operating costs from increasing? Chop services, close, or merge probably. What business would survive on 2002 pricing with 2009 costs? That pesky minimum wage has gone up how much since 2002 without commensurate funding adjustments? It going to be pulled back? Andy has an easy talking point that sounds promising until you really have to do it.

Comment by zatoichi Wednesday, Dec 9, 09 @ 12:29 pm
This sounds a lot like last spring’s Quinn budget planning. Shared sacrifice. We’ll cut and you pay more. First, you pay more, then, we’ll cut. Yeah, that’s it. Send us the money first. Then maybe well cut, um, …up to 14%…in, um, “the smaller agencies.” Right. Who cares about them anyway. But we really need your money now. Trust us.

Comment by cassandra Wednesday, Dec 9, 09 @ 12:29 pm
McKenna and other calling for massive cuts in spending as a solution never explain why shutting donws hundreds of small buisnesses in IL is good for the economy. Whats better is they claim to support business by pushing for tax relief… but that tax releif is paid for by the State ceasing to do business with many small business’s which survive directly or indirectly on the States consumptions of services.

I am not sure closing down businesses and increasing unemployment is the way to economic recovery.

Comment by Ghost Wednesday, Dec 9, 09 @ 12:30 pm
Okay, please explain this Illinois Economics question. 14% from the small/medium agencies because the large ones can’t afford it. Isn’t that backwards thinking? It would be a small amount of headcount in a Human Services Budget whereas it would be an entire division in one of the other agencies. I don’t get it. Temporary layoffs of all union workers are not a state employee rumor, it is an option being considered by Guv.

Comment by Anon Wednesday, Dec 9, 09 @ 1:28 pm
The AFSCME contract prohibits furloughs, period. Calling them temporary layoffs instead of furloughs does not change that. A temporary layoff of union employees would violate the contract. Additionally, laying off all state employees for a week would not even put a scratch on the surface of the state budget mess. Only increased revenues can remedy the crisis.

No politician is going to vote to cut human services during an election year. That is why small agencies (i.e. invisible or nearly invisible) are targeted. Very few people would notice any cuts. Additionally, a lot of human service spending is partially reimbursed by the federal government. Cuts in programs like Medicaid would reduce payments by the federal government, making it a wash.

Cuts in fully state funded programs such as All Kids could help reduce some of the deficit, especially eliminating some of the upper tier eligibility, & increasing out of pocket exenses for those remaining eligible. But only increased revenues can solve it. Any politician that says that budget cuts and state employee layoffs and/or furloughs will fix the state’s finances is just pandering to the constituency that views a tax cut as the only solution to budget shortfalls.

Comment by Fed Up Wednesday, Dec 9, 09 @ 2:03 pm
Fed Up, the AFSCME contract allows for temporary layoffs of up to 5 days.

Comment by Ghost Wednesday, Dec 9, 09 @ 2:15 pm
True, fed-up, as Ghost states. Read Art.20, section 1 to start (you can google the PR 302.510, Adm.Code 303.310 ect as needed per language). I think, fed-up what you meant to say was that T-layoffs can’t be used for implementing statewide furloughs without blah blah blah. And , fed-up, if you don’t have a contract booklet you can view it on CMS under contracts.

Comment by Cindy Lou Wednesday, Dec 9, 09 @ 2:36 pm
Temporary layoffs that effect all union employees are prohibited by the contract. These are furloughs. See Article XX Section 1 of the master contract.

Comment by Fed Up Wednesday, Dec 9, 09 @ 3:06 pm
Illinois spends fewer dollars per Medicaid enrollee now than most states with Medicaid managed care. Why do the Republicans keep repeating the lie that going to managed care will save a lot of money? It just isn’t true.

Comment by Anonymous Wednesday, Dec 9, 09 @ 4:05 pm
Cindy lou knows what she’s talking about, fed up. It can be done, but requires precision in execution and non-meddling from the G’s office. The labor people can do this. However, Fed up, the Unions would challenge it, grievances, court, and demonstrations.
But. If CMS is allowed to execute the CBA (collective bargaining agreement) w/o interference, it can be done.

Comment by Ill_will Wednesday, Dec 9, 09 @ 4:56 pm
A big part of the problem for trying to cut big agencies 14% is that frequently {Medicaid, IDOT for example) is that pass-thru (grants, awards, contracts, etc) moneys equal a big percentage of their budget and aren’t as susceptible to cuts.

Comment by steve schnorf Wednesday, Dec 9, 09 @ 5:49 pm
Okay, I understand we all need to cut back…but how does Quinn announce the opening of a new veterans’ home in Chicago on Veterans Day last month and then announce dept. cuts for veterans affairs?!? Can’t have it both ways Quinn!! Get a grip.

Comment by Zoble21 Wednesday, Dec 9, 09 @ 8:39 pm
What about the federal funding some of the small/medium agencies receive. it is being put in jeopardy too. i do not like the thought of blago appointees deciding who what where to cut when a lot of the problems were caused by there overinflated salaries.

Comment by Anon Thursday, Dec 10, 09 @ 10:04 am