Quinn aides considered cutting parole officers, tax collectors

SPRINGFIELD — Gov. Pat Quinn’s aides discussed the possibility of laying off nearly all the state’s parole officers and axing so many tax collectors that revenues would fall by $800 million over three years as they searched for ways to live within the tight budget approved by legislators, a budget official said Wednesday.

Programs that would move more than 1,000 people with disabilities and mental illness into community care were also considered for cuts, said Kelly Kraft, assistant director of Quinn’s budget office.

She said the Democratic governor is not proposing the reductions but that they were merely raised as possibilities when aides were brainstorming. She acknowledged the ideas were shared with the General Assembly as recently as Tuesday.

The fact that such painful and probably unpopular cuts were considered suggests the scope of the problem facing Quinn.

Legislators sent him a budget about $1.5 billion less than he proposed. Quinn insists it’s simply not enough money to keep all of state government running for a full year. Either legislators approve more money, he says, or harsh service cuts are on the way.

Quinn is expected to spell out at noon Thursday what services and jobs he plans to cut if more money isn’t approved.

Legislators and their aides say they have gotten little information from Quinn so far and don’t know which ideas are being actively considered.

Kraft said the process of deciding the cuts included “budget exercises” meant to generate ideas. “They’re not even possibilities as much as `here’s something, here’s something,”’ she said.

One such exercise raised the possibility of cutting 85 percent of the state’s parole officers, or 391 people, who monitor inmates released from prison. Lawmakers could avert those cuts and the closure of a state prison by coming up with an additional $60 million.

Another possibility was to lay off personnel at the state Revenue Department. The trade-off would have been giving up $800 million in tax collections over three years. Under the scenarios discussed by the governor’s staff, lawmakers could have prevented those cuts by approving an additional $18 million.

Kraft said those ideas were never even presented to Quinn as options and are not going to be proposed.

“Those are not on the table. That is not something the governor is doing,” she said.

Another scenario involved 300 people with developmental disabilities and 750 with mental illness. Without $45 million in additional spending, their switch from state institutions to community care could have been halted.

Kraft said that particular idea is off the table but other cuts affecting services to the disabled and mentally ill could be part of Quinn’s budget proposal.

The spokesman for a key union said the fact that Quinn aides dropped the idea of cutting parole officers shows how little fat is left in the state budget.

“There is simply no way to sustain any amount of cuts to the ranks of parole officers and maintain responsible, safe oversight of paroled inmates,” said Anders Lindall of American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Council 31.