Idea to trim state budget

To the Illinois General Assembly and Gov. Quinn:

I am concerned about your handling of the state's budget. Once again, even under Gov. Quinn's control, we have an unbalanced budget, and no one has come up with a sensible plan to balance it.

Like many of my fellow Illinois citizens, I can only find a temporary position, which pays far less than what I would earn if I could find a permanent position. My husband, like many others, is unemployed and unable to collect unemployment insurance.

My "hourly" pay covers our monthly mortgage and our health insurance. The money we saved for retirement is currently covering our other expenses, and we are far from the age of retirement. I am sure there are many other families and individuals in this state in the same boat.

Instead of decreasing the funding for important programs, education, needed services and increasing the state's income tax and other taxes, why not decrease your salaries, expenses, your staff's salaries temporarily, until the economy improves, unemployment rate drops to a reasonable percentage and/or the budget shows a surplus. Show us that you are willing to make sacrifices for the good of the people of the state of Illinois.

Remember, we voted you into office and we can decide not vote for you in the next election.

Jill Scadron Philmlee

Geneva