 If the agreement is approved by lawmakers, it would save Logan
Correctional, a center for juvenile offenders and centers for the
mentally ill and developmentally disabled.Lincoln Mayor Keith
Snyder said he was notified of the impending deal by state Sen.
Larry Bomke late Monday evening. The mayor was obviously elated by
the news.
"What great news for the Logan CC families and for all of Lincoln
and Logan County! Thank you all so much for all of your
extraordinary efforts! We now have much to celebrate this holiday
season! This news will just extend our Thanksgiving season a bit
longer," he said.
Quinn's budget director, David Vaught, stressed that the plan
will not increase overall state spending. Instead, it moves money
around within the budget.
"By pushing spending down over here, we're able to use that money
over there for different purposes," Vaught told The Associated
Press.
Aides to House Speaker Michael Madigan and Senate President John
Cullerton, the top Democrats in the Illinois Legislature, confirmed
the agreement but said they had few details.
The spokeswoman for Senate Minority Leader Christine Radogno,
R-Lemont, said Republicans object to the way Democrats have handled
the state budget but felt they had to reach some arrangement to
avoid closing valuable state facilities.
"We were concerned about chaos from closing the facilities
without a thoughtful plan," said spokeswoman Patty Schuh. "In order
to avoid that, we were able to put together a reallocation
agreement."
The American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees
welcomed the news.
"While we have not seen the details of the agreement announced
tonight, we believe it is a positive step toward saving jobs and
averting harmful cuts to health care, prisons and more," said Henry
Bayer, executive director of AFSCME Council 31.
Lawmakers could begin voting on the agreement as soon as Tuesday.
Quinn announced months ago that without legislative action he
would be forced to close the facilities and cut jobs. The Democrat
said lawmakers hadn't given him enough money to keep all of state
government running for a full year.
Republican lawmakers complained that Quinn seemed to be targeting
facilities in their districts. State employees said their jobs were
being cut and important services endangered, even though the state's
budget problems lay in other areas.
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Quinn used his veto powers to cut spending in several areas,
including money for school transportation services and for regional
education superintendents around the state. Vaught said lawmakers
have now agreed to take that vetoed money and use it to avoid the
closures and layoffs.
The agreement would keep the facilities open only for the
remainder of this fiscal year, which ends June 30. Their long-term
fates are still being reviewed, Vaught said.
Vaught said the agreement also calls for reducing state payments
to a variety of special-purpose funds. The state's $55 million
contribution to the workers' compensation fund, for instance, would
be cut by $10 million. About $95 million that ordinarily would go to
pension systems would instead be diverted to preventing the
closures.
There would be enough reductions that some services in the
Department of Human Services could get some additional money, Vaught
said. The biggest beneficiaries would be community mental health
services, which would get $30 million, and substance abuse programs,
which would get $28 million.
[Associated Press;
LDN]
Copyright 2011 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This
material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or
redistributed.
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