Joe Hosey
The Herald News
The cut was not nearly as deep as it was feared to be, but nonprofit agencies are still waiting to see how they will make out under the new state budget.
The specter of a 50 percent cut to funding of human services loomed, but the state is actually going to reduce funding by about 14 to 15 percent. But how that 14 to 15 percent cut will be implemented remains a mystery.
While the smaller than expected cut is good news, individual agencies still do not know how the reduction will be meted out.
"It will still be a problem, but we don't know," said Sheila Schmitz, the chief executive officer of Guardian Angel Community Services in Joliet. "We're still playing a waiting game to find out how we will be impacted."
Earlier this month, Gov. Pat Quinn vetoed part of a state budget approved by legislators because it did not include enough funding for human services.
The state budget expired June 30. Quinn wants to raise state income taxes to fill the $11.6 billion hole in the budget, but he has not been able to raise enough support among lawmakers for his plan. Even though he signed a budget without increasing the income tax, Quinn said he may still try to do so.
For now, while they are not facing as severe a funding cut as they once thought, nonprofit agencies are still twisting in the wind and waiting to see how they will make out.
Dykstra explained that the state might be more reluctant to cut funds to agencies who receive federal medicaid money.
The federal government matches 50 percent of state funds, he said, so these agencies would effectively lose half again as much as they would from the state cut.
Matthew Lanoue, the coordinator of public relations for Cornerstone Services, speculated that the state may leave the allocation of funds up to the Department of Human Services.