Local Advocates Argue Damaging Cuts to Services for Children Can Be Avoided with Adequate Revenue
Rock Island, IL - Today, advocates in the Quad Cities - armed with a new analysis from the Responsible Budget Coalition (RBC) - are pushing back against Governor Bruce Rauner's proposed FY 2016 cuts. The RBC analysis breaks down cuts geographically and shows families in the Quad Cities area will suffer due to steep reductions in services for children, home services, autism, community care, public safety, and economic development.
Despite warnings from bond houses that a failure to extend 2014 income tax rates would cause serious harm to Illinois' families, politicians failed to act. Failure to extend the tax rates resulted in a $5-6 billion revenue gap for the upcoming budget year, and as a result, Governor Rauner has been pressing lawmakers to pass a budget with $6 billion in cuts to vital programs. The cuts are the result of expiring tax rates, which are primarily going to corporations and upper-income individuals.
Advocates that work with at the Arc of the Quad Cities Area are advocating for a responsible state budget. The Arc of the Quad Cities Area's Respite Program provides children and adults with disabilities care throughout the workday so that their families can work. Rauner's FY 16 budget proposes the elimination of respite programs, resulting in a $90,000 cut for Arc.
Respite care provides families cost-effective, short-term, intermittent care for persons with intellectual or developmental disabilities. This program provides primary caregivers the opportunity to work and handle the daily struggles with the comforting knowledge that their children are well taken care of in their absence. One of the primary benefits of the Respite Care program is to defer to deter costly residential placement of individuals of disabled individuals, which is roughly $60,000 a year in a CILA setting or $240,000 in a state-operated facility.
Says Kyle Rick, Executive Director of The Arc of the Quad Cities Area, "Respite dollars are some of the most cost effective use of funding for individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities in the State of Illinois. Eliminating this essential service is counter-intuitive and potentially ruinous for working families with disabled children."
With the deadline for lawmakers and the Governor to pass a budget just 33 days away, local advocates say they will continue to fight for adequate revenue to avoid Rauner's unnecessary and painful cuts.
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