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 Its 27 staff members were laid off suddenly last week when the
stop-smoking program's $3 million grant was suspended as part of $26
million in immediate spending cuts by the state.
For a state grappling with a $1.6 billion budget deficit, which has
made Illinois a poster child for fiscal woes, the amount is a small
drop in the big bucket of cuts needed to close the gap. But for some
average citizens, the cuts threaten their daily well-being.
So poor you can't bury your loved ones? Look elsewhere. Need
specialized help for an autistic child? Look elsewhere.
New Republican Governor Bruce Rauner, who campaigned on promises to
get the state's finances under control, implemented the cuts.
They came on top of the suspension of $180 million in grants for
park improvements that Rauner put in place three months after taking
office. In April he announced the $26 million in cuts to health and
other services. He had already agreed with lawmakers to a 2.25
percent across-the-board spending cut as he tries to plug the hole
in the state budget.
 Those cuts pale compared with the $6 billion in spending cuts and
savings that Rauner wants for the fiscal year that starts in July. A
full one-third of that amount is designed to come from a
controversial proposed change to the pension plan for public
employees.
"You are taking from people who are in dire need," said Stefan
Dawson, whose 6-year-old son gets help for autism spectrum disorder
through The Autism Program, a statewide network that serves about
15,000 families. It immediately lost $1 million in funding for
April-June and could lose $4 million for the upcoming fiscal year.
"The governor has a lot of responsibilities, but you have to sit
down and see what is important and what is working before you make
irrational decisions to cut dollars on the backs of families who
don't have the resources to go somewhere else," Dawson said.
Two lawmakers this week introduced proposals to restore the $26
million in cuts, but it was not clear if their initiatives would
pass.
Rauner's office said the governor has limited options because he
inherited a budget put in place by the Democrat-controlled
legislature and reluctantly signed into law by former Governor Pat
Quinn.
The pain felt by families like Dawson's could be just the beginning:
Illinois has the most troubled finances of any U.S. state. Its low
credit ratings - which play a big role in determining the state's
cost of borrowing money - could tip closer to the junk-bond status
assigned to the riskiest debt if the state does not address a $105
billion unfunded pension liability and chronic unbalanced budget.
In addition to public pension contributions, Rauner's proposed cuts
for the fiscal year starting July 1 target public transportation,
grants for job programs and preservation of historic sites.
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Scott Pattison, executive director of the National Association of
State Budget officers, said that while most states are adjusting to
the "new normal" of slower growth, in general they are operating
with more stable budgets than Illinois. QUITLINE QUITS
Callers to the smoking quitline now hear a recorded message: "We
will be closed until further notice." Illinois is now the only state
without a tobacco quitline, the American Cancer Society Cancer
Action Network said.
Last year the line took 96,000 calls and claims a 43 percent success
rate in getting smokers to quit through a combination of
over-the-phone counseling and mailed nicotine patches and gum.
"So many lives will be affected, I feel. Just to have those people
out there it means so much, you could call them any time," said
Leslie Seei, 54, who credits the quitline's counselors with getting
her off cigarettes after 40 years.
"It made all the difference in the world," said Seei, who runs a
promotions company out of her home.
Funeral directors are lobbying lawmakers to reverse $7 million in
cuts for burial services for the poor, which they say could result
in unclaimed bodies at morgues, hospitals and nursing homes.
Spencer Leak, Jr., who runs Leak & Sons Funeral Homes, with
locations in Chicago and one of its suburbs, said that last year his
company handled 300 public aid funerals, most of which cost more
than the $1,103 the state grant allowed. Now that money is gone.
"They come in with literally no money, and when I say 'no money'
sometimes they cannot even afford to buy a suit or a dress for their
loved one," Leak said of the typical client for a public aid
funeral. "They don't have transportation to even get to the
funeral."
(Additional reporting by Karen Pierog; Editing by Jill Serjeant and
Leslie Adler)
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