 Ashley Cross declined to discuss where cuts could come to offset
keeping state employees who were scheduled for layoffs on the
payroll "longer than anticipated.""We're at the very beginning
stages of examining that," Cross said.
But a budgetary watchdog who considers the layoffs little more
than a symbolic drop in the bucket in a state billions of dollars in
the red said Quinn's options for trimming fat may be limited, making
the tax increase Quinn has sought all the more crucial.
The layoff plan "is clearly a political thing as far as we can
tell -- something for the governor to jump up and down and say, 'You
know what, we held the line on salaries and fired a bunch of
workers,"' said Ralph Martire, executive director of the
Chicago-based Center for Tax and Budget Accountability.
But Martire said even the job cuts would not "solve even
one-tenth of 1 percent of the budget problem." He said a
"thoughtful" tax increase is the clear option, in part because he
said Illinois ranks among the bottom 10 states in total state and
local tax burden as a percentage of income.
Quinn's efforts to close the budget abyss suffered a legal
setback Monday when a southern Illinois judge sided with the state
government's biggest union, put the governor's layoffs on hold and
ordered both sides to arbitration -- which could take months.
The injunction was at the request of the American Federation of
State, County and Municipal Employees' Council 31, which represents
virtually all the 2,600 workers and, in its Johnson County lawsuit
filed last month, argued that the impact of the layoffs must first
be assessed. The union also insisted the cuts would make it unsafe
for remaining prison workers.
Some 500 of the job cuts -- more than 400 of them in the state's
prisons, where Quinn ultimately wants to eliminate 1,000 jobs --
were to take effect today. Other affected agencies would have been
human services, health and family services, revenue, and commerce
and economic development.
Saline County Circuit Judge Todd Lambert ruled that the union
"met its burden to prove irreparable harm that would be suffered by
employees if the planned layoffs were implemented" before
arbitration or other efforts to resolve the differences.
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Pledging to appeal, Quinn called the layoffs plan "responsible and legally
sound." The call for job cuts follows the union's refusal to negotiate proposed
furlough days and wage freezes meant to minimize layoffs, altogether saving the
state an estimated $185 million, Cross said. Officials trying to put together
a state budget for this year faced a gap of at least $11 billion
between revenue and expenses. Quinn responded by calling for higher
income taxes -- an idea lawmakers rejected.
State officials eventually settled on a budget built mostly on
one-time federal money, increased debt and unpaid bills. But even
that version wasn't balanced, and Quinn was left to figure out how
to cut an additional $1 billion in spending.
Laurence Msall, president of the watchdog Civic Federation, said
Quinn was in an unenviable position, mapping out where the layoffs
would come without lawmakers' input. "We would give the governor the
benefit of the doubt that he attempted to identify areas reasonable
for reduction," Msall said.
Cross reiterated Quinn's push for a tax increase, saying
"everyone (including taxpayers) has to make sacrifices" to ease the
state's economic mess.
Henry Bayer, AFSCME's executive director, said the union's legal
victory should encourage Quinn to abandon his layoffs plan and
redouble efforts on "comprehensive tax reform that raises adequate
revenue to fund essential services and preserve the jobs of those
who provide them."
Martire said there's little room for layoffs in a state he says
already ranks among the bottom in terms of state workers per capita.
"It's not like we have public employees tripping over each other
everywhere," he said.
[Associated Press]
Copyright 2009 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This
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