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(From IARF News Notes, 9/8/2011)
During a press conference yesterday,
Governor Quinn Announced the closure of seven state operated facilities and
the layoff of 1,938 employees. Closures and approximate time lines for
layoff notifications for the DD/MH facilities are as follows:
-
Chester Mental Health Facility -
3/31/12 (approximate)
-
H. Douglas Singer Mental Health
Facility - 12/31/11 (approximate)
-
Tinley Park Mental Health Facility -
11/30/11 (approximate)
-
Jacksonville Developmental Center -
2/29/12 (approximate)
-
Jack Mabley Developmental Center -
2/29/12 (approximate
-
Logan Correctional Center
-
IYC Murphysboro
These closures are not going to be an
overnight process, and will take months to complete. Notice has been filed
with the Commission on Government Forecast and Accountability, so it will be
very difficult for Quinn to back away from his proposals. Layoff notices to
staff are expected to coincide with the closure of their facility. This
announcement is part of the second phase of his budget management plan - the
first phase was his refusal to grant pay raises to ASFCME employees (which
was recently upheld in court), and the third has yet to be addressed.
Citing the budget as inadequate to continue
many of the State’s operations, he justified his actions as a step towards
ensuring the continuation of “core services”. Possibly, they are the result
of his inability to adjust appropriation lines on what was this year a
“line-item” budget - one that bars him from adjusting appropriation levels.
Quinn line-item vetoed roughly $376 million in appropriations, which created
potential for that money to be reallocated somewhere else, a process which
will require the cooperation of the General Assembly. |
Illinois
