Services will collapse without tax increase

Though no one is overjoyed about increased taxes, we feel it important to support Governor Quinn's proposed revenue plan in order to lay the foundation for a more secure future.

Illinois government has been cutting funding to community support organizations for the last ten years because the state's poorly designed fiscal system cannot raise enough money to cover basic cost increases.

While still providing crucial support to struggling families in the communities we serve, organizations like ours are balancing doomsday budgets of our own.

General revenue funds for rape crisis centers have been held flat at $5.81 million for the past three years; in the past two years alone, we have had to lay off 20 percent of our staff, shorten service hours, and create wait lists for victims of sexual assault.

We must make clear that the human services sector has tightened our belts to skeletal limits over the last decade.

We have sacrificed much to the detriment of many.

Additional cuts to close an $11 billion shortfall will have a disastrous impact on our local communities. Not only would it mean devastating job losses, it would mean a loss of one out of every three dollars currently spent for crucial public services. The short term "savings" the state might produce through these cuts would levy future, significant cost against individuals, communities and the state.

Though it seems counterintuitive, by maintaining state spending we are likely to end this recession earlier and provide Illinois communities with the support so many families need right now.

What are bridges and roads without the people to travel them? Like those critical pieces of support, community services are part of a public infrastructure that must be maintained or we will find ourselves in worse financial shape in the future.

Christine Bork

Chief Executive Officer

YWCA Metropolitan Chicago