Jun 16, 2009 5:57 pm US/Central
10,000 State Workers May Lose Jobs In Budget Cuts
Thousands Of Inmates May Also Be Let Out
CHICAGO (CBS) ―
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Gov. Pat Quinn (File)
CBS
About 10,000 state employees could lose their jobs unless lawmakers come up with a new budget.
That's the number Gov. Pat Quinn's administration is talking about as officials try to pressure lawmakers to pass an income tax increase to prevent billions of dollars in service cuts.
CBS 2 Poliitcal Editor Mike Flannery reports that about 1,000 protesters gathered Tuesday at the Thompson Center to protest pending cuts to social programs.
To highlight these possible cuts, Quinn appeared Tuesday at a Chicago apartment building that allows senior citizens to stay in their homes instead of going to a nursing home. It's one of the services Quinn says will have to be cut without more money.
The cuts could also result in the shutdown of a third of the state's YWCAs, would drastically reduce the number of domestic abuse shelter beds and rape counseling centers.
The Evanston YWCA's shelter for battered women and their children had to turn away about 1,200 this year -- no room. With the state now threatening to cut 64 percent of its funding, the shelter's making plans to shut down.
Karen Schrage has run the Evanston YWCA's emergency shelter for battered women, Mary Lou's Place, for 16 years. She may lose her job next month.
"I'm angry actually. I'm angry because I am forced to make difficult decisions here, and I can't see why our legislators can't make some difficult votes," Schrage said.
The 200 women and children this shelter serves each year are among hundreds of thousands facing the loss of state-funded services.
Supporters of the YWCA joined hundreds of others at a protest outside state offices in the Loop Tuesday. Protestors urged the General Assembly to raise taxes, instead of cutting.
Most independent observers, though, say the state's budget shortfall is so huge that only a combination of cuts and increases could solve the problem.
"Even with revenue enhancements, tax increases, whatever the proposals that have been out there, there will still be cuts that have to be made," said Rep. David Miller (D-Lynwood).
Quinn says the cuts could also result in:
--The loss of child care for tens of thousands of members of the working poor;
--The release of thousands of jail inmates in Cook County alone, with few or no post-release services;
--The dismissal of 13,000 people currently in addiction or alcohol treatment.
Some denounce Gov. Quinn's list of potential cuts as a scare tactic. Not Schrage, who's looked at the state budget.
"I think Pat Quinn is telling the truth," she said. "I find him to be a straight talker. I trust that this is not just crying wolf."
Quinn and legislative leaders are negotiating over an alternative budget. The governor wants lawmakers to pack their bags and get ready to be back in Springfield next week.
CBS 2 Political Editor Mike Flannery and the Associated Press contributed to this report
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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