DuPage Co. may lay off 200 workers

More than 200 DuPage County employees could lose their jobs as part of the county's latest doom-and-gloom budget proposal.

County board Chairman Robert Schillerstrom today said he will unveil the layoff plans during his budget presentation Tuesday.

Schillerstrom told reporters that the layoffs are needed to avoid significant deficit spending. The county is facing an estimated $20 million shortfall.

"The budget that I'm going to present is a budget that I don't want to present, but that I think I have to," Schillerstrom said. "I don't see any options today or tomorrow."

Those sentiments came as the state legislature's veto session closed Friday, killing the county board's dreams of a cigarette tax hike unless the proposal is revived in a special session before Dec. 1.

That's the date the county's fiscal year will begin.

Schillerstrom's proposed spending plan calls for most of the layoffs to come in law enforcement personnel. Public health employees would see most of the remaining layoffs. There also would be no raises.

The layoffs likely will exacerbate the problem of overcrowded courtrooms and overburdened sheriff's office employees, as decried by elected officials in recent months.

Schillerstrom said it will be up to the elected officials who run those law enforcement departments to decide which employees to layoff.

"The elected officials are probably not going to be happy about it, and they shouldn't be happy about it because I'm not happy about it," Schillerstrom said.

Asked if it would be reasonable for DuPage residents to expect an increase in crime because of the layoffs, Schillerstrom said the loss of employees would hurt services throughout the county.

"These cuts will have a negative impact on public safety," Schillerstrom said. "There's no way to spin these (layoffs) in a positive way."

The DuPage Convalescent Center could see another round of layoffs, following the loss of 20 employees earlier this year. Schillerstrom said the additional layoffs mean the center will be dangerously close to no longer functioning the way it historically has.

Overall, the layoffs would represent the loss of about 15 percent of the county's workforce.

Schillerstrom is expected to provide more details about specific departmental impacts Tuesday.