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 The letter will be mailed to Quinn, with
copies going to the four legislators representing the area.
Snyder provided a copy of the letter to the media for
publication:
May 10, 2011
Governor Pat Quinn
207 State Capitol
Springfield, IL 62706
Dear Governor
Quinn,
On behalf of the
people of the City of Lincoln we are writing to oppose in the
strongest terms possible your plan to suspend Local Government
Distributive Fund (LGDF) payments to Illinois municipalities. The
loss of income tax proceeds would be devastating to the City's FY12
budget which we just passed two weeks ago.
LGDF receipts
amount to $1.2 million (or over 20%) of our $5.8 million general
funds budget. The economic downturn of the last three years has left
us with no balance to absorb a cut of any size. If 30% or more of
LGDF is withheld, severe cuts will be required – cuts that will
result in the loss of jobs, reduction of public safety, and
indefinite postponement of overdue infrastructure maintenance.
The City of Lincoln
has faced decreasing revenues for each of the past four fiscal
years. That decrease was caused partly by the economy and partly by
delays in the payments of State obligations.
Unlike the State
and federal governments, however, we have made tough decisions and
we have cut spending to live within our means in each of those
years. We have made the
preservation of jobs a top priority. As a result, we have cut into
the bone on non-personnel costs, eliminated capital expenditures,
left critical vacancies unfilled, and implemented furlough days.
The City has not
been alone in facing these economic problems.
Both our high
school and elementary districts have had to make sizeable cuts and
RIF personnel. The loss of young educational professionals is
especially difficult in smaller communities such as Lincoln who work
hard to attract young people and young families to town to foster
future growth.
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 To now have the
State of Illinois tell us we have to "share in the sacrifice" is
disingenuous at best. The City of Lincoln has not shirked its
responsibility and has worked hard to weather this economic storm we
all have faced.
We know these are
not easy days for you and the General Assembly. We wholeheartedly
understand the difficult choices that must be made to balance a
budget because we have been doing it for the past four years.
We have shared in
the sacrifice daily over that time as State income tax proceeds have
fallen from $92 per person to $73 per person. We survived that $19
reduction per person by tightening our belts, re-prioritizing,
deferring, and making-do.
Your proposed cut
of an additional $23.40 per person (or more) will not be sustained
without severe reductions in personnel and cuts to essential
services that will be felt by every individual, home, business, and
organization in our community.
The State of Illinois didn’t get into its financial condition
because it shared too much revenue with municipalities, particularly
the City of Lincoln. We would ask that you not cut the current level
of LGDF funding and that you not delay or suspend any further
payments.
Thank you for your consideration of this serious matter.
[By NILA SMITH, with letter copied
from file received]
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