Gov. Pat Quinn released his budget proposal today, which relies on cuts to human services, education, and other state programs.
A wave of anxiety about the future of services for children, the poor, people with disabilities, and other vulnerable populations in Illinois rippled across the state today as Gov. Pat Quinn's budget proposal for fiscal year 2012 became public.
"For me the headline is the decimation of human services," said Larry Joseph, the top budget analyst for Voices For Illinois Children. The Department of Human Service (DHS) is getting hit like "no other state agency," he said. Joseph had just started combing through the proposal but he said many social service providers could lose entire or big portions of their General Revenue Fund dollars. Addiction services, he said, is proposed for a 50 percent cut relative to the state's FY2011 budget, but that number will be 70 percent below the 2009 level.
The Illinois Alcoholism Drug Dependence Association says more than 18,928 residents of Illinois, including more than 9,800 people in Cook County, will lose assistance if the addiction service cuts are sustained.
"The programs that were hit the hardest in DHS were for the most part programs not tied to federal requirements or federal mandates," Joseph said.
Some of the biggest cuts Quinn suggests in his opening bid for the state's next budget (PDF) fall on health care spending for some of the state's poorest residents, including a reduction in Medicaid reimbursement rates by $552 million and the elimination of Illinois Cares Rx, which helps seniors and people with disabilities purchase prescriptions, to save $107 million.
The $52.7 billion spending plan also proposes slashing state support for school transportation by $95 million, eliminating a Department on Aging program that assists seniors with taxes and drug costs to realize $24 million in savings, cutting $14 million in funds for regional education offices, and a range of smaller reductions. Quinn sees future savings in school district consolidation as well.
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