Quinn Still Plans To Close Suburban Mental Health Center
SPRINGFIELD (STMW) - Although Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn is suggesting a slower, more orderly reduction of state-run services for the mentally ill and developmentally disabled, the Tinley Park Mental Health Center still will be shut down permanently by next month, or by next July at the latest.
A bipartisan panel of lawmakers on Thursday rejected the immediate closure of several facilities that had been proposed as part of a more radical budget-cutting move, but the recommendation is advisory, and a plan announced by Quinn's office calls for halting new admissions at the Tinley Park center and eventually discharging remaining residents to community providers or hospitals.
Quinn's office says he needs help from legislators to reallocate money in the budget to keep the previously targeted seven facilities open for the rest of the year. How long the Tinley center stays open depends on the funding, Quinn's office said after the commission voted.
The change in plans comes after the legislative Commission on Government Forecasting and Accountability voted overwhelmingly Thursday to oppose Quinn's plans to shutter the Jacksonville Developmental Center, the Tinley Park Mental Health Center and Logan Correctional Center in Lincoln.
Commissioners, who similarly voted against closing four other facilities last month, criticized the proposals as being drawn up hastily with little thought.
Quinn said he must lay off nearly 2,000 workers and close seven state-run centers — the others are the Murphysboro juvenile detention center, the Mabley Developmental Center in Dixon, the Singer Mental Health Center in Rockford and the Chester Mental Health Center — because there isn't enough money in the budget to run them.
A Quinn adviser unveiled a plan Thursday that would close six facilities, but no prisons, over the next 2½ years.
It would reduce by 600 the number of developmentally disabled clients served in state-run facilities by 2014, allowing the state to close up to four of its eight developmental centers. It also calls for closing two psychiatric hospitals by 2014. It does not identify any facilities for closure.
The plan would provide for "the most safe, responsible transition to community care and facility closure," Quinn spokeswoman Brie Callahan said in a statement.
With help from the General Assembly to shuffle funds in this year's budget, the administration can drop its closure plans for this year and focus on the long-term proposal, she said.
Lawmakers on the commission were not convinced the Jacksonville facility could close as quickly as Quinn proposes, executive director Dan Long said.
They also said Tinley Park provides needed services in suburban Chicago to 1,900 people a year, and they scoffed at the idea of moving Logan prisoners to gymnasiums and infirmaries in other overcrowded prisons, according to Long.
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