Peoria Journal Star columnist Terry Bibo writes that the state of Illinois has spent $10 million over the past seven years to remodel and maintain a vacant institution that once housed people with developmental disabilities. And yet, even as the institution sits furnished and empty, the state keeps cutting back on its already meager funding for services for people with disabilities. An excerpt:

Thirty thousand people may lose their services from the Illinois Department of Human Services Division of Developmental Disabilities thanks to budget cuts. That doesn’t count the thousands who are on waiting lists.

Illinois is already 50th among the 50 states when it comes to reimbursing some of these caregivers for services. Now the fees paid to care for each person will be pretty much cut in half — and the state won’t pay its bills for at least three months. The whole system is in meltdown.

… It cost $5.4 million to reconstruct what is now Lincoln Estates. It cost $4.5 million to maintain it. That’s the capital budget, not operating budget. So there is $10 million for empty buildings, but not $10 million for needy people.

(Peoria Journal Star photo)

This entry was posted on Monday, June 29th, 2009 at 3:13 pm and is filed under budget, caregivers, commentary, institutionalization, intellectual/developmental disabilities. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.