by Phil Kadner : Southtown Star : May 3, 2011
Let’s cut government spending.
Get rid of all those lazy patronage workers.
Eliminate big wasteful contracts for campaign contributors.
Make government more efficient.
For years, I’ve been warning people that when the deep cuts finally come, the folks feeling the pinch are not going to be the ones with political clout.
Gov. Pat Quinn is using a red pen to trim millions from the state budget, which is in sorry shape. No doubt about that.
And among the programs on the chopping block is one that provides respite care for the families of the developmentally disabled. It’s a program that pays for a caregiver to come into the home of someone with a mental disability so a parent can spend a few hours leading a normal life.
For a single mother, that could be enough time to allow her to hold down a job instead of staying home full-time or institutionalizing a child.
Or it could just mean a few hours each week so that parents with an autistic son can spend a little time with a daughter who otherwise would never get much attention.
It could just mean giving a parent enough time to do the dishes, do the grocery shopping or tend to any number of daily chores they wouldn’t have time for because their developmentally disabled child requires constant attention, said Shirley Perez, a family advocate for The Arc of Illinois.
The Arc of Illinois represents the families of more than 200,000 infants, children and adults with developmental disabilities in Illinois.
Tony Paulauski, the agency’s executive director, stopped by the SouthtownStar newspaper office with Perez and parent Regina Thurston to say that Illinois has its budget priorities “upside down.”
The Illinois Department of Human Services is planning $76 million in cuts to programs for the developmentally disabled. These cuts would impact agencies such as Blue Cap in Blue Island, St. Coletta’s in Tinley Park and Park Lawn in Oak Lawn, just to mention a few.
“The employees at these places have had only three cost-of-living raises in the last 11 years,” Paulauski said. “There’s a six-month delay in state payments in money owed to them.
“In other words, these agencies have been taking budget cuts each year, and now the state wants to cut another 6 percent. If that happens, some of these places are going to be forced to close or cut their programs.”
Paulauski said that means more developmentally disabled people will end up in institutions instead of living at home, which will cost the state more money. It also means that the 330 employees at St. Coletta’s might be out of work and looking for jobs.
“About 8.5 percent of the state’s entire work force is employed in non-profits, and if you keep cutting them that impacts the state’s entire economy,” he said. “It means fewer jobs. Less revenue for the state. It makes no sense.”
Paulauski said the state’s unionized labor force, in the meantime, is due for salary increases of 8.25 percent.
“Eliminate that wage increase, and you don’t have to cut programs for the developmentally disabled,” he said.
He also called for fewer state institutions for the developmentally disabled and relocating those clients to group homes.
“That would save the state millions of dollars as well and serve the client base better,” Paulauski said.
If the state would just pay its bills on time, he said, some of these agencies that help the developmentally disabled could be saved because they wouldn’t have to take out loans to keep operating.
Thurston said her son Jason, 22, has been on a state waiting list for disability services since 1998. There are about 21,000 people on the PUNS waiting list. PUNS stands for Prioritization of Urgency of Need for Service, and it is kind of a joke.
If you are developmentally disabled and need any sort of government service, you first have to get on the PUNS list.
There are people 60 years old on the PUNS list and still waiting. Their parents, who know their lifetime is nearing an end, wonder if their children are ever going to get the help they need.
Every not-for-profit organization and special interest group is trying to get the attention of the public these days as they face cuts due to the budget crisis in Illinois.
Most do good work. That’s why the state, in its wisdom, decided to fund many of these programs in the first place.
But even with an income tax hike, Illinois is going to have to cut something.
If you thought waste, mismanagement and pay-for-play would be eliminated, you are wrong.
The mentally disabled, who can’t fight back, are among those being targeted.
I am not surprised.
http://southtownstar.suntimes.com/5148244-522/home-care-for-disabledtargeted-for-state-cut.html?sms_ss=blogger&at_xt=4dc00e33d7565812%2C0#.U9uwQvkV2Sp
Let’s cut government spending.
Get rid of all those lazy patronage workers.
Eliminate big wasteful contracts for campaign contributors.
Make government more efficient.
For years, I’ve been warning people that when the deep cuts finally come, the folks feeling the pinch are not going to be the ones with political clout.
Gov. Pat Quinn is using a red pen to trim millions from the state budget, which is in sorry shape. No doubt about that.
And among the programs on the chopping block is one that provides respite care for the families of the developmentally disabled. It’s a program that pays for a caregiver to come into the home of someone with a mental disability so a parent can spend a few hours leading a normal life.
For a single mother, that could be enough time to allow her to hold down a job instead of staying home full-time or institutionalizing a child.
Or it could just mean a few hours each week so that parents with an autistic son can spend a little time with a daughter who otherwise would never get much attention.
It could just mean giving a parent enough time to do the dishes, do the grocery shopping or tend to any number of daily chores they wouldn’t have time for because their developmentally disabled child requires constant attention, said Shirley Perez, a family advocate for The Arc of Illinois.
The Arc of Illinois represents the families of more than 200,000 infants, children and adults with developmental disabilities in Illinois.
Tony Paulauski, the agency’s executive director, stopped by the SouthtownStar newspaper office with Perez and parent Regina Thurston to say that Illinois has its budget priorities “upside down.”
The Illinois Department of Human Services is planning $76 million in cuts to programs for the developmentally disabled. These cuts would impact agencies such as Blue Cap in Blue Island, St. Coletta’s in Tinley Park and Park Lawn in Oak Lawn, just to mention a few.
“The employees at these places have had only three cost-of-living raises in the last 11 years,” Paulauski said. “There’s a six-month delay in state payments in money owed to them.
“In other words, these agencies have been taking budget cuts each year, and now the state wants to cut another 6 percent. If that happens, some of these places are going to be forced to close or cut their programs.”
Paulauski said that means more developmentally disabled people will end up in institutions instead of living at home, which will cost the state more money. It also means that the 330 employees at St. Coletta’s might be out of work and looking for jobs.
“About 8.5 percent of the state’s entire work force is employed in non-profits, and if you keep cutting them that impacts the state’s entire economy,” he said. “It means fewer jobs. Less revenue for the state. It makes no sense.”
Paulauski said the state’s unionized labor force, in the meantime, is due for salary increases of 8.25 percent.
“Eliminate that wage increase, and you don’t have to cut programs for the developmentally disabled,” he said.
He also called for fewer state institutions for the developmentally disabled and relocating those clients to group homes.
“That would save the state millions of dollars as well and serve the client base better,” Paulauski said.
If the state would just pay its bills on time, he said, some of these agencies that help the developmentally disabled could be saved because they wouldn’t have to take out loans to keep operating.
Thurston said her son Jason, 22, has been on a state waiting list for disability services since 1998. There are about 21,000 people on the PUNS waiting list. PUNS stands for Prioritization of Urgency of Need for Service, and it is kind of a joke.
If you are developmentally disabled and need any sort of government service, you first have to get on the PUNS list.
There are people 60 years old on the PUNS list and still waiting. Their parents, who know their lifetime is nearing an end, wonder if their children are ever going to get the help they need.
Every not-for-profit organization and special interest group is trying to get the attention of the public these days as they face cuts due to the budget crisis in Illinois.
Most do good work. That’s why the state, in its wisdom, decided to fund many of these programs in the first place.
But even with an income tax hike, Illinois is going to have to cut something.
If you thought waste, mismanagement and pay-for-play would be eliminated, you are wrong.
The mentally disabled, who can’t fight back, are among those being targeted.
I am not surprised.
http://southtownstar.suntimes.com/5148244-522/home-care-for-disabledtargeted-for-state-cut.html?sms_ss=blogger&at_xt=4dc00e33d7565812%2C0#.U9uwQvkV2Sp
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