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The fates of social services in the Carbondale area are unclear as the July 1 deadline for a state budget resolution nears.
Republican Rep. Mike Bost said Monday the Senate is proposing a one-month budget to allow more time for legislators to negotiate. He also said the proposed income tax increase is still not receiving enough support from Democrats and Republicans alike.
The state’s budget for fiscal year 2010 as it stands contains large cuts in funding for public service agencies including the Women’s Center, the Boys and Girls Club of Carbondale and Southern Illinois Regional Social Services.
Bost said short-term borrowing from bonds would keep things operating until a budget can be agreed upon. He also said that he would not vote in favor of borrowing against the pension system
In the meantime, social services are experiencing devastating cuts in funding, said the Women’s Center Executive Director Cathy McClanahan.
The center held a meeting last week with its board members to discuss whether the agency will close, stop offering 24-hour services or find some other way to continue operating on a slashed income, McClanahan said. They are laying off nine of 39 employees, she said.
“We’re just trying to figure out what exactly are we going to have to cut,” McClanahan said. “Are we going to have to reduce those services? Are staff ... going to have to take home pagers for the crisis line? And how is that going to work when we have so few staff working?”
She said funding for one third of the center’s entire budget will disappear, or $423,000, if the budget is not adjusted. Last year, the center received $677,000 – but this year they were told to expect about $254,000, she said.
Funds obtained from the federal government might also be in jeopardy as they are typically given on the condition that a state agency matches them by about 25 percent.
Karen Freitag of Southern Illinois Regional Social Services said they have already been notified by five different state funding sources that they will receive a cut in funding. Twenty-one employees have already been laid off, she said.
“My feeling is this loss of funding is devastating to many people in our communities and it’s hitting people without resources,” Freitag said. She also said that the state should look into other places to save money if it is necessary.
The Increasing Motivation with Personal and Academic Career Training program that bussed children from Cairo’s Delta Center in Cairo, to the Boys and Girls Club of Carbondale has already been disbanded due to reduced state funding, Boys and Girls Club Coordinator Kristie Perry said.
The program matched children with mentors for about four hours a week and will officially end July 16. The club will also be cutting at least one full-time employee, Perry said.
Bost said that calling the House into session without a new draft of the budget ready is a waste of tax money.
“It would be like someone being called in to ... build a house, but you don’t have a plan or building supplies yet,” he said.
Kay Kizer, a former Women’s Center client, said that the center is a great place for women with no friends, family or money.
“I’m a grandmother and fundraising for grandmothers raising grandchildren is an important issue,” she said.
Bost said a temporary budget could be ready by July 1 at the earliest or July 7 at the latest.
“Until the leaders of all the causes come together and come up with a plan to be voted on, we’re just kind of hanging in limbo.”
