The Jacksonville Wells Center prepares to close by the end of March unless gov. Pat Quinn are change your mind about the drastic cutting funding for substance abuse treatment and prevention.
Providers of these services to present this week that public funding 15 March will end.
"For us, the cuts started on Tuesday," said Bruce Carter, Wells Center Director. "We have already started to prepare layoff announcements and patient discharges, medical risks involved in the sudden disruption of the treatment of addiction of a patient."
He said that the cuts were unexpected and shocking.
"The scale will force us to close our residential programs, unless the State legislature gov. Quinn's decision reverses," said Carter, who added he felt "betrayed" by the sudden cuts.
"Governor Quinn had pledged to increase of the income tax to save Illinois human services of the budget ax," said Carter. "The promise of the Governor is a cruel hoax."
Carter was at the Statehouse on Wednesday for the announcement of a House resolution co-sponsored by Rep. Jim Watson, R-Jacksonville, called for an immediate halt to Quinn's cuts. Carter is also scheduled to testify today during a hearing of the Senate in Chicago about the effects of the cuts on the Communities.
Quinn's surprise move, by the use of his Executive authority, is projected to save of the State's General Revenue Fund $ 15 million.
The House resolution notes that providers of addiction prevention services receive less than 30 days in advance of the cuts.
The State is struggling with a $ 13 billion projected deficit by the end of this year.
Quinn did not answer specifics about budget cuts but told reporters "we get through this fiscal year and on to the next one," according to The Associated Press.
The resolution of the Parliament contends the cuts would be State-funded addiction prevention and treatment system shut down and more than 5,000 jobs cost.
While the Governor has the right to take some budget cuts, Watson said that he believes that Quinn should have taken a different approach.
"We must not zero out the funding for treatment facilities ... especially when there is no alternative in place," said Watson.
"The problem is: [Quinn] calls ' wolf ' again in the hope of trying to get people to back down?" he said. "We don't have to be people threaten. I don't like that kind of tactics to be of the road that we need to take. "
Carter said the Agency about 25 percent of its funding in the past two years has lost, "but we have survived."
The latest cuts are more menacing because they are deeper than in the past, said Carter.
"Only people who have private health insurance or Medicaid will be able to access to treatment," said Carter.
Without the money, the Centre will be forced more than 150 clients in drug and alcohol treatment to offload and closes its residential programmes over the next four weeks, Carter said.
In addition, there are more than 100 people who have been waiting for admission to a treatment program.
The Centre employs 47 people to operate his 32-bed residential rehabilitation program. The center has six beds dedicated to a detoxification program.
In addition to the mid-year cuts eliminates Quinn's new fiscal year 2012 budget, which begins on 1 July, also $ 55 million from the Division of alcoholism and substance abuse prevention and treatment. That will reduce the number of people statewide treatment getting 13,957 69,787 this year to next year, according to Carter.
"Quinn's proposed budget also eliminates addiction prevention services for young people statewide and 720 229,536 youth in Jacksonville and the surrounding communities served by Wells Center," said Carter.
The resolution of the Parliament "considers that this draconian cuts eliminating all non-Medicaid substance abuse treatment and prevention will decimate the Illinois system" and are in battle with alcoholism and Other drug abuse and dependency Act.
That law mandates that offenders the right to an assessment and can be sentenced to treatment services in the Community instead of sent to prison.
"It creates certain issues," said of the State of Morgan County Attorney Chris Reif. "If someone not treatment for an addiction gets they are not going to meet regular probation, which will result in more withdrawals and probably more jail and prison sentences in the end."
The average cost of addiction care in Illinois is $ 4,425 a person; the average annual cost of detention is $ 21,911 a person.
The resolution said the cuts residual effects, including forcing residents who do not have access to addiction services to turn to hospital emergency rooms would have — "increase waiting times and swelling of the medical expenses." It could also escalate domestic violence, child abuse, accidents and fatalities.
Watson is not anticipating a vote on the resolution, but it has "started a communication process that must be started before," he said.
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