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| Illinois Announces $220M Budget Cuts; Prison Closure |
| By Associated Press |
| Published: 12/10/2001 |
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As many as 60,000 state workers will lose a day's pay and a 141-year-old state prison will close under $220 million in budget cuts announced recently by Gov. George Ryan. Ryan will implement most of the cuts immediately to help fill a $500 million budget hole. The administration has blamed the state's drooping economy, in part, on the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, although tax revenues were falling before then. 'All of these cuts are unfortunate, but we need to try to scale back to meet the new revenue challenges in this post-Sept. 11 world, and we need to do it in a way that is as fair as possible to the people of Illinois,'' Ryan spokesman Dennis Culloton said. The Republican governor previously cut travel and office expenses and froze hiring to save $50 million and asked education agencies to trim $50 million. That leaves $180 million that needs to be sliced from a $53.4 billion budget. Ryan wants to close the Joliet Correctional Center to save $4 million. Its 1,500 prisoners and 600 workers would be transferred to other prisons. |
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