Lawmakers react to demands for responsible budget
QUINCY, ILL. -- The number of people and agencies affected by the State of Illinois' $13 billion budget deficit seems to grow every day.
On Tuesday, May 18th though a state coalition tried to speak out about those budget issues.
The Responsible Budget Coalition is made up of 200 organizations statewide that serve and represent millions of Illinois residents.
That coalition held eight conferences across the state Tuesday, including one in Quincy, to explain the affects of state budget cuts and delays in state funding. But it also talked about the effects of not having a balanced budget solution.
KHQA's Jarod Wells was on hand to listen to the coalition's message, and also took that message to your local legislators to get their reaction.
David Vinkler with the Responsible Budget Coalition said, "Our message is very simple. Get back to Springfield. Pass a responsible budget that will include the revenue to support all the citizens of the state. We've seen the cuts, we've seen the borrowing, the piece we haven't seen yet is the revenue."
As we spoke to David Vinkler with the Responsible Budget Coalition Tuesday in Quincy, he said the state has already seen social service providers extend their budgets as far as they can go.
Vinkler said, "At this point we've only seen a fraction of the kinds of social service closures that you're going to see in the next year if they don't pass a new budget."
So we took those concerns and the message from the Responsible Budget Coalition to your local legislators. Here's what they had to say.
Illinois Representative Rich Myers (R - 94th) said, "We agree with them. We'd like to go back and work out a responsible budget. Unfortunately what these people are not saying is that their idea of a responsible budget is to pass a tax increase. First of all, their needs to be some demonstration of going in there and cutting expenses before we can think about passing a tax increase."
Senator John Sullivan (D - 47th) said, "To me we have to make that decision, do we want to continue to provide the services at somewhat the level they are right now or do we want to cut those way back. People need to understand it's easy to say don't raise my taxes, make cuts, but everybody wants to say but don't cut what's important to me. So we need, as the State of Illinois, we need to make a decision of what direction we want to go."
If lawmakers do not agree on a budget by May 31st, they will need a super majority to pass one.
Senator Sullivan says a budget has made its way through the senate and on to the house. But in his eyes it does not address the problems of the state.
If you would like to read more about the Responsible Budget Coalition and their message you can visit its website www.abetterillinois.com.