DISQUS

CapitolFax.com: Guv “details” budget cuts – 2,552 headcount reduction

  • Ghost · 4 months ago
    Nice elevator music.....
  • not 47 · 4 months ago
    College financial aid for needy students (Monetary Award Program) is left with a $225 M hole. As Sun-Times reported today, no scholarships for any students after January 1.
  • Chubs Mahoney · 4 months ago
    I have a feeling that Jerry Stermer will look avuncular.
  • Rich Miller · 4 months ago
    Anybody else having trouble with the live stream?
  • Will County Woman · 4 months ago
    yes, rich
  • Ghost · 4 months ago
    Working for me, I see some women in the audience, podium and 4 flags (six flags is more fun)
  • South of Sherman · 4 months ago
    Yep, stream was working fine and then it stopped. Maybe the IT budget was cut...
  • Ghost · 4 months ago
    Sounds check, from a quiet individual
  • Chubs Mahoney · 4 months ago
    Open it in windows media player.
    File --> Open URL
  • Will County Woman · 4 months ago
    It's working for me now.
  • Ghost · 4 months ago
    Smone just knocked the camera out of line.
  • siriusly · 4 months ago
    very pleasant on hold music, it shows me as a viewer / citizen that this administration is acknowledging that I am waiting. They know I'm here waiting, and they care. Never had on hold music in the Blago years.
  • Rich Miller · 4 months ago
    It's working. I had to refresh windows media player.

    Why does the state continue to use that awful player? Ugh.
  • Josh · 4 months ago
    I'm just excited human services get to be political pawns a little longer!
  • Chubs Mahoney · 4 months ago
    I get no audio. Others?
  • Anonymous · 4 months ago
    Who does the professional dress of the "prep" guys? Wow, I've seen better dressed employee's at Big Lots
  • SIU · 4 months ago
    No MAP grants after January 1st?????This is horrible news for universities who are already loosing enrollment.

    Wake up Illinois!!! Before we go back to the stone ages.
  • Rich Miller · 4 months ago
    C'mon, anonymous. That's a working man.
  • A Naughty Moose · 4 months ago
    Funny to watch the Chgo political press corps paging thru the document. "Uh, is that it? There's nothing here!"
  • Will County Woman · 4 months ago
    you're not on mute are you?
  • Ghost · 4 months ago
    gaggle of attendess (or is that a flock?)
  • Ghost · 4 months ago
    lol tight shot of a fire exit blocked by oxes!
  • Ghost · 4 months ago
    ahem boxes*
  • Rich Miller · 4 months ago
    And, now... Back to the goofy muzak.
  • Details · 4 months ago
    I found some more details here,

    http://www.state.il.us/budget/AllocationPlan.asp
  • Stones · 4 months ago
    Now that we know what is going on I feel better - AHEM!
  • whatever · 4 months ago
    Is anyone ever on time in Illinois???
  • You Go Boy · 4 months ago
    hopefully the Gov won't be sued by some porn outfit for infringement of music rights....er, or so my cousin told me.
  • Jojo · 4 months ago
    anybody else streaming this? I can't get on.
  • You Go Boy · 4 months ago
    lets not get impatient....they're still working the numbers.
  • Will County Woman · 4 months ago
    "That’s a working man."

    If only all others could be so lucky.
    :-(


    people need jobs! that's the only real way out of this mess.
  • Ghost · 4 months ago
    Whatever, they are always on Illinois time, its just that Illinois time is kept secret and operates on a random scale where the amount of time available in any given rotational cycle is divded randomly.
  • Ghost · 4 months ago
    Salute mayor daley for green efforts... develop green jobs for IL
  • siriusly · 4 months ago
    Who are the people standing next to Gov?
  • Ghost · 4 months ago
    IL wants to get people working; but state has been hard hit byu recessions. dealth with it by working together
  • Ghost · 4 months ago
    I inheritated the deficit, did not create it.
  • Bill · 4 months ago
    He sounds like Rod.
  • Ghost · 4 months ago
    we need money to fight pandemics...education.... soldiers (insert political emoitonal plea here)
  • siriusly · 4 months ago
    No way Bill, he is talking to the people directly and honestly. There is nothing Blago-ish about this speech so far.
  • Will County Woman · 4 months ago
    "I inheritated the deficit, did not create it."

    no. really??????? geeze.
  • Bill · 4 months ago
    yeah, sure.
  • Ghost · 4 months ago
    GA did not support his budget which uncluded revenue. GA pushed "half baked" budget.
  • Bill · 4 months ago
    Madigan is a republican!
  • Chubs Mahoney · 4 months ago
    he appears relaxed. straightforward approach.
    no showboating here. this is anti-rod.
  • Ghost · 4 months ago
    Gov got together with GA leaders, all worked together and developed and imperfect plan to provide a bridge to the future...
  • A Naughty Moose · 4 months ago
    "We need jobs, jobs, jobs [fast forward] so I am laying off thousands of people."
  • siriusly · 4 months ago
    Rich - what's up with veto session in October?
  • Say WHAT? · 4 months ago
    Rich, please make Bill go away.
  • siriusly · 4 months ago
    Stermer now talking, explaining what the Governor meant.
  • tanman · 4 months ago
    Hey, check out the headcount reduction in the summary:
    http://www.state.il.us/budget/AllocationPlan/Su...

    800+ for DHS plus the 1000 for DOC
  • Say WHAT? · 4 months ago
    "As you see in the power point presentation" we cant see anything. The moment the words power-point were used, the camera went tight on Stermer.
  • siriusly · 4 months ago
    Use your browser Say What. It's posted here:
    http://www.illinois.gov/publicincludes/statehom...
  • Will County Woman · 4 months ago
    stermer might be assuming that people at the press conference are referring to a hardcopy of the powerpoint when he says "you can see on page..."
  • Cindy Lou · 4 months ago
    30 of the headcount loss in DNR is suppose to be open positions.
  • Say WHAT? · 4 months ago
    Siriusly, Thank you.
  • siriusly · 4 months ago
    Daley is requiring city workers to do furlough days. Why isn't Quinn taking 10% salary reductions from his top paid administrators AND furlough days for non-state-union employees too?
  • Will County Woman · 4 months ago
    I feel sorriest for correctional officers. they're job is already dangerous and to decrease staff only makes their working conditions more dangerous. I hope that someone can put a prisoner lock down order in effect to help make the working environment a little more safe for the correctional officers.
  • Will County Woman · 4 months ago
    Ghost - Friday, Jul 31, 09 @ 3:05 pm:

    yeah, a bridge to nowhere, rather a bridge to worsened debt. hmmm... that is still a bridge to nowhere. will Illinois ever catch up and have a truly balanced budget that isn't just playing for borrowed time?
  • Say WHAT? · 4 months ago
    Shared sacrifice. I don't like the sound of it.
  • Speaking at Will · 4 months ago
    The ______ has hit the fan.
  • tanman · 4 months ago
    ok...if the union is so PO'ed then why did they vote for a pay raise like the gov said? 125 million is the DOC cut, and that's amount of raises the union demand. Someone's not be entirely truthful here...
  • Ghost · 4 months ago
    WCW is a bridge to "a" future, but more a postapocolyptic future we dont want to be living in.
  • Chubs Mahoney · 4 months ago
    I agree, "shared sacrifice" sounds goofa.
    I do say that the Quinn/Stermer combo is boring but earnest.
  • Lefty Lefty · 4 months ago
    Anyone know why there is no budget for the Illinois EPA in the last document? All zeroes across--same for "Illinois Power" and "PTAB" whatever they are.

    BTW, the last couple of links are broken-- CapFaxBlog beginning to the string instead of Illinois.gov beginning with the document name at end. Cut and paste of end of string after word "budgets" gets you where you want to go until Mr. Miller fixes it.
  • Vandalia · 4 months ago
    The Vandalia CC staff will be hit hard. A factory closed there and now 120 more jobs lost. Thanks Governor for your support..see you at the polls!
  • Rich Miller · 4 months ago
    Link is fixed. Thanks
  • Ghost · 4 months ago
    PTAB = property tax appeal board


    does not bode well for challenges to property tax rates
  • Will County Woman · 4 months ago
    Quinn is being disingenous when he has repeatedly suggested that he GA played ball under his terms. In truth, he was forced to play under their terms. He's trying to make it seem like everything that happened over the last six months has gone according to his plan and his wishes. He didn't want a temp budget, yet he signed it for political reasons. So, trying to clean it up now and make it look like he hasn't flip-flopped constantly is ridiculous.
  • Will County Woman · 4 months ago
    Agreed, ghost. agreed.
  • Chubs Mahoney · 4 months ago
    WCW - not so.

    He's been saying that things did not turn out as he'd hoped.
  • Highway Engineer · 4 months ago
    lefty lefty - The reports are only for the General Revenue Fund. Many state agencies (DOT, EPA, etc.) receive a significant portion of funding from other sources (federal, MFT, etc). These fund sources may not be used to offset GRF.
  • Chi Gal · 4 months ago
    -- Will County Woman - he signed it for political reasons --

    Isn't that rather disingenuous on your part? We needed something to buy time. Clearly you weren't one of the state employees who didn't receive a paycheck on payday.
  • Will County Woman · 4 months ago
    Look chubs, he is an unmandated governor with no political capital and I guess he really had no other choice but to spin in an effort to make himself look a little better.

    the afscme council 31 statement that rich posted earlier in the hour is interesting and worth noting. afscme 31 council supports hynes, and in very strong language regarding the state budget mess it blames the governor...
  • Adolf Berle · 4 months ago
    It's good to see that Gov. Quinn is proceeding with cutting $125 million from DOC. The agency was terribly managed the last few years as overtime grew from
  • Chubs Mahoney · 4 months ago
    WCW, I think he just expressed his disappointment and made it clear that he does not relish making these cuts. If you just don't like Quinn, fine, but it's not fair to say he's "disingenuous" when in fact he was very candid.
  • Will County Woman · 4 months ago
    chi gal, no. it isn't.,and I am not.

    the gov. is on record having said previously and consistently (before july 1) that a temp budget was in effect kicking the can down the road and wrong. that is what people like govs. edgar and thompson chimed in on to help him with. funny how when lisa madigan took her name out of contention for governor, within a day or so, quinn was ready to sign off on the temporary budget and borrowing.
  • Chi Gal · 4 months ago
    WCW -- Yes, while afscme is buying their way into your man Dan's heart with those whopping political contributions, they can only shoot arrows at the one who has to make the tough decisions (and not hide behind his dad). They can blame PQ all they want but the bottom line is that this state doesn't have the money to live they way its become accustomed to. And it was PQ who has made that very clear - publicly (not on post-it-note.) And when he says that things haven't gone the way he hoped, how is that spinning it to make himself look good?
  • Rich Miller · 4 months ago
    ===it’s not fair to say he’s “disingenuous” when in fact he was very candid. ===

    Yes, it is. WCW is correct.
  • Lefty Lefty · 4 months ago
    Thanks for the clarifications, all. I knew that EPA received $ from hazwaste fund, MFT, etc. but wouldn't have guessed that only $1.6 million came from GRF.

    In case you're interested, PTAB zeroed from $2.28 mil last year, and Illinois Power zeroed from $1.32 mil last year.
  • batty1 · 4 months ago
    Adolph B--see WCW earlier message:
    "I feel sorriest for correctional officers. they’re job is already dangerous and to decrease staff only makes their working conditions more dangerous. I hope that someone can put a prisoner lock down order in effect to help make the working environment a little more safe for the correctional officers."

    WCW is right. And with cuts to human services we will see a higher rate of recidivism--it costs much more to have people in prison than assisted by agencies with programs for ex-offenders that help them turn their lives around.
  • Desert Dweller · 4 months ago
    Any particulars on the constitutionals? Is the $25 million the 10% across the board cut?
  • Capitol View · 4 months ago
    Adolg Berle - DOC, by letting go staff, get rid of the least senior staff making the least money. Part of their fiscal craziness of the past few years is that their understaffing has resulted in huge overtime payouts. Bring in new recruits, and these new staffers are paid less and no one needs overtime. The more you hire, the more you save. But the GOMB has't figured this out yet, despite all the obvious savings from distributing the new recruits for the prison that opened late to the other institutions in the waiting time.

    DOC would save bundles of operating funds by early retirement incentives to senior line staff.
  • Another Flip Flop? · 4 months ago
    I read an article in the SJ-R about the Dunn Fellowship being discontinued. According to the CMS page of the budget allocation, it is funding at full levels.
  • troop · 4 months ago
    So he can fly all around and go overseas for no good reason while we are in this mess. Wake up Illinois, we need to vote all these guys out. What is the use in working anymore when all the government does is take, take, take? I guess if your a state worker your family does not count!
  • civil servant · 4 months ago
    sure does look like the Dunn's were funded - hmmmm - anyone willing to bet that at least one of them had some big time "clout"?
  • RJW · 4 months ago
    Civil Servant:

    Back off of the Dunn Fellowship program. I was a Dunn and so were many, many other people who now work in state government. It is an internship program that prepares college grades for careers with the state. It is non-partisan and Rutan covered. Who you know can't help you with that program. I knew nobody and was accepted on merit. There were several in my class that weren't even from Illinois. Please know your facts before stating something.
  • Outsider · 4 months ago
    I was a Dunn Fellow almost 10 years ago and saddened to hear that it was discontinued a couple of weeks ago. To be honest, it was the best experience I ever had career-wise and I would not be where I am today without it. Someone above talked about how DOC/GOMB can't get it right by not hiring new people and their lower salaries to avoid overtime. This immediately made me think of a Dunn Fellow. We made $27k a year and worked like crazy-and were better for it. I would much rather see the governor's office have a couple deputy chiefs of staff and each of them have some Dunn Fellows who would work hard for their money (I think around $31k now) as opposed to a few employees that have been around in government/public sector making 6 figures each. That would be cost savings for government and a great way to continue a program with a rich tradition of creating great public servants.
  • RJW · 4 months ago
    That should be "prepares college GRADS." How embarassing.

    I would also note that Dunn Fellows are cheap labor. It saves the state money to have them doing work as opposed to hiring a union worker.
  • asht79 · 4 months ago
    does anyone know if the layoffs mentioned above have notices gone out?
  • Amazing · 4 months ago
    Welcome to Hellinois....
  • Anonymous · 4 months ago
    "Not a lot of detail there, eh?"

    Hey Rich, you have to admit, those agency sheets are pretty freaking detailed.
  • Odd Fellow · 4 months ago
    I have met some Dunn Fellows. Not a one of them represented the program very well. And yes, a few of them were "connected". Maybe I was just unlucky and met three "bad apples".

    In a row.

    The program I think has merit. I just was not impressed by the actual individuals I met. They came off as over-entitled princes- and princesses-in-waiting, just killing time doing menial stuff until they got the clouted managerial level jobs waiting for them. If I'm bitter-sounding, it is more because such a program is a good and needed thing, but I'm afraid it's tainted like much of the rest of the bureaucracy. I'm sure not Every Dunn Fellow is bad. But like I said, the ones I've met, did not do your program any favors.
  • Can't Say My Nickname · 4 months ago
    Not much has been mentioned about CMS's Workers Compensation payroll for state agencies. Is it struggling? Does Workers Comp payroll come out of the personnel services line?
  • civil servant · 4 months ago
    RJW - I know most of Dunn Fellows are not political - interviews used to be conducted by "important" staff and Dunns were given serious work. Some bureaucrat at CMS organizes interviews now. Most if not all Blago Dunns worked in Gov's Office. The Program is not the same as it used to be. Blago had Dunns video taping all of the Chicago news stations and then driving the tapes to his house - and they were paid OT! The Dunns, Lt Gov Interns and SOS Fellows worked millions of hours for little pay without a thought of asking for OT. I wonder if we can find out how much was spent on OT and travel (to and from Blago's house in Ravenswood) - that would be interesting.
  • VanillaMan · 4 months ago
    This is not a surprise, and it is a drop in the bucket.
  • Dunn Done · 4 months ago
    I was going to be a Dunn this year. No clout, letters from professors, essay, resume and interview. Despite what the PDFs indicate, the program is indeed gone for the year and its future unknown. Don't know why this was released, maybe a cruel error or a way to throw off those that were angry the program was canceled.