Special session begins Tuesday

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It was a spur-of-the-moment decision Saturday morning for John Rey.

He had heard that Gov. Pat Quinn was going to be in Rochelle for an event. So Rey, development director for Family Service Agency of DeKalb County, decided to drive the 20 minutes in hopes of meeting the governor.

And he came with a message: Rethink what you are proposing. Social-service agencies that receive money from the Department of Health and Human Services were told earlier this month to expect a 50 percent cut in funding for the next fiscal year as lawmakers grapple with the state’s bleak fiscal picture, which is several billion dollars in the red.

Quinn has called state lawmakers back to Springfield on Tuesday for a special session to work on the state’s budget woes. Among the items the governor hopes lawmakers address include an increase in the state’s income tax.

That’s a move many social service agencies are hoping lawmakers approve, in order to provide funding for their programs.

Many stand to lose a lot. For instance: Family Service Agency’s Children’s Advocacy Center receives about 31 percent of its budget from the state. CAC provides support and advocacy services to children who have been the subject of physical or sexual abuse throughout the course of criminal investigations and subsequent prosecutions.

The Illinois Department of Family and Children Services, which oversees the program, has been told there will be no funding for the CAC program starting July 1.

Rey said the loss of state money would make for an uncertain future for the local CAC program. While he doesn’t think it would shut down or serve fewer people, it would mean the agency has to find revenue elsewhere, like private donors, foundations or grants.

“It’s unconscionable to me that the legislators can put forward a piece of legislation that does not recognize the individuals that are receiving those services,” he said Saturday after returning from Rochelle.

It’s not just CAC that’s in jeopardy of losing funding. A bevy of services – from child care to transportation to elder care programs – also are in danger or receiving less money from the state.

The Ben Gordon Center in DeKalb, which provides mental health services, doesn’t know how much state funding it might lose, CEO and President Michael Flora said. The organization will not disrupt the care current patients have through July, he said, and hopes that by the end of next month he will have a better understanding of what impact the budget will have on programs and services.

“Now is not the time to reduce funding for outpatient mental health needs,” he said. “In the current economic conditions, families are stressed to the limit.”

Local state lawmakers said they know the proposed cuts would cause pain for area residents. But they also have said that the cuts to just social service agencies, and a proposed increase in the income tax, are not the only routes to go. And they stress that, like everyday residents are doing in this tough economy, the state also needs to find places to cut back.

Now is not the time to start or expand programs, state Rep. Robert Pritchard, R-Hinckley said, but there is money in the budget for both. State Rep. Ron Wait, R-Belvidere, has proposed all state agencies get a 10 percent budget cut – to spread out the pain – and all state employees have their salaries frozen.

“Raising taxes is not the answer, cutting Human Services is not the answer,” Wait said in a written statement released last week. “I do not support putting our budget burdens on the backs of our most vulnerable citizens. We should cut wasteful bureaucracy, not Human Services.”

As of Friday, Pritchard said there was little information as to what would actually be brought up Tuesday for lawmakers to do. There were no proposed measures pending, he said, and no agreement among legislative leaders as to the next step.

Organizations that provide social services hope something positive is worked out in Springfield this week. It’s one of the reasons Rey drove to Rochelle this weekend, to pass that message on.

Rey didn’t actually get to meet Quinn this weekend, but he passed on a news release that outlined his concerns to an aide.

“She assured me she would pass on my press release to the governor,” Rey said. “I hope, when he reads it, that he’ll see the eyes of the children and seniors who be impacted by the lack of that funding. And I hope that will cause him to be more sensitive to those individuals, and direct his staff to possibly restore a good portion, if not all, of that human service line item funding.”