Illinois lawmakers have barely begun negotiating big budget cuts for next year. But Illinois Public Radio’s as Tony Arnold went around different parts of Chicago - he found just the mere mention of cuts have already had an effect.
Gov. Bruce Rauner says Illinois has a spending problem.
RAUNER: We have been livin’ beyond our means, spendin’ money that Illinois taxpayers could not afford.
He’s proposing big cuts across almost across the board. It’s a very strong – and a very public – starting point in negotiations. And that’s created some panic. If you stop and look around Chicago, you can see the influence of money from Springfield in almost every corner of the city. As an example, I’m here - at the hub of state government in downtown Chicago - the Thompson Center. Actually, I’m below the Thompson Center - under ground at the Clark and Lake Blue Line stop. That’s because the Chicago Transit Authority gets state money. It estimates it’d get 130 million dollars less under Rauner’s plan. And with less money - the CTA says it would cut the number of trains that run, and raise fares. You can probably guess how riders like Lawrence Halmon feel about that.
HALMON: Well I catch the train at nighttime and for them to be cutting it and for the time that I stand here waiting on the train, I mean, it’s unfair.
ARNOLD: And so if they do that to you, if they cut the amount of service…?
HALMON: If they cut the amount of service? Can it get any worse?
Well, the next train South is coming in 10 minutes. I’m actually going to skip it and drive to my next meeting. It’s with Tom Wogan - who works at Chicago State University. And I’m meeting with Wogan because Rauner’s calling for an increase in money to primary education… But cuts to public universities like Chicago State.
WOGAN: To be very honest, if the governor’s proposal were to go through simply as is, we’d be looking at somewhere in the area of a 31 percent cut.
ARNOLD: If that’s the worst case scenario and that’s if there’s no negotiations, that’s just the governor’s starting point, what are you doing to brace for even those potential cuts?
WOGAN: First thing that you would probably have to consider is probably a tuition increase and for us that would simply mean we would want higher education, who want to better themselves, and they would not be able to. And even a lot of essential positions, a lot of positions we do need to fill eventually, we’ve postponed that into the next fiscal year.
ARNOLD: Teachers?
WOGAN: We’re talking professors. We’re talking administrators, yeah. Everything is under consideration.
And that idea that everything is under consideration is the point. That organizations re-evaluate how they get state money - and how they spend it. I should say something about how this budget process works. The date the budget goes into effect is July First. That’s assuming Democrats get on board with a spending plan before then. They’re a factor since they have a super majority in the House and Senate. Negotiations will be ramping up in the coming weeks… But just like Chicago State - other organizations are already taking action in preparation of likely cuts. And in some cases - the stakes are really high. That brings me to why I’m heading to Pilsen. I’m meeting with Kathy Grzelak - who runs Kaleidescope. It’s an organization that contracts with the state’s child welfare agency to take care of wards of the state who are older - like 18 year olds who don’t have a family they can stay with. So Kaleidescope works with them on things like rent for their home so they can live independently.
ARNOLD: Looking at the governor’s cuts, looking at what you would have to cut as an agency, do you have an estimate to how many kids then would be, that you’d have to end services to?
GRZELAK: 60? Yeah. At least 60.
ARNOLD: And have you thought through at this point, I mean, if that goes through, or - how have you been planning for what could come?
GRZELAK: A lot of our kids, they’re not prepared to live independently and the idea to tell them that they could potentially be homeless in another four months would be devastating so we have to also be careful of who we are talking to about it. So we are, the staff are trying to balance those conversations. We’re doing everything to not let that happen, but, yeah.
ARNOLD: And the decision to not tell the kids - I mean, did you have a meeting about this?
GRZELAK: There’s a handful of kids that I think it’s a harder conversation to have. I’m not saying we’re not going to have it. But I think because of how much abuse and neglect they endured and then the number of placements they endured, the number of workers they’ve endured, you know, many of these kids just need more support.
So you’re already seeing organizations freeze hiring and have meetings about where to cut and who to tell. And negotiations are only just beginning. Which means there is uncertainty around the size of the cuts. Grzelak added before I left - that the more she has to think about where to save money - the less time she has to strategize about the best way to care for children who are on their own.
Source: WBEZ, Chicago Public Radio