The Arc hosted a webinar for the Executive Forum on Thursday. The main topics of
discussion were Comptroller’s Priorities for Funding Developmental Disability Services
and a panel discussion about Organizational Priorities during the budget tragedy.
Comptroller’s Presentation

Cristina Madridejos Mancini, Deputy Director of Public Affairs with the Comptroller’s
Office, was our guest. I asked her to talk about priorities for funding Developmental
Disability Services. Cristina walked us through the problems the Comptroller’s Office is
faced with because Illinois still has no state budget. As a result, only consent decrees
and other mandated services being funded. She stated that about 90% of the budget is
now being funded. She also walked us through current revenue and expenses. See her
handouts.

Regarding Developmental Disability Services and the Ligas Consent Decree, here are
some of my take always.

  • First, providers are up to date in funding because of the court’s intervention.
  • Ligas is the only consent decree with a timeline, therefore, it is at the front of the
    line for funding even over the other consent decrees.
  • While the FY’16 budget remains unknown, it is expected that the consent decrees
    will be a priority in any budget agreement.

Comptroller’s Handouts:

Panel Discussion

The second session was a panel of CEO’s of various organizations and what their
priorities are during the budget tragedy. We were pleased to have Kyle Rick, The Arc of
the Quad Cities; Steve Boisse, PACT, Inc.; Kim Zoeller, Ray Graham, and Jeff Dean,
Gateway Services.

Here are some of their comments and suggestions that I recorded:

  1. Being very conservative with cash flow.
  2. We all expect to see payment delays increasing as the year goes on.
  3. Retaining and recruiting staff. We are no longer competitive in our areas. There is
    a staff crisis in Illinois. A $1.00 per hour increase will not address the need to
    retain and recruit staff.
  4. Being much more deliberate with outreach to legislators.
  5. Reducing expenses and restructuring health insurance.
  6. Initiating more fund raising.
  7. Merging with another organization.
  8. Was successful in increasing local tax support for services.
  9. Establishing more entrepreneurial and cooperative ventures.
  10. Collapsed their holding foundation and redirected its resources.

Other:

  1. We are at a logjam. With only one cost of living increase of 2% in ten years, we
    cannot move into new and additional community services as much as we would
    like to.
  2. The change in child care eligibility is forcing staff to choose between working in
    our field for caring for their children.
  3. How can we be expected to comply with the new CMS Rules on Community?

I really appreciated the frank comments and thoughts that our panel put into their
presentations.


Tony Paulauski
Executive Director
The Arc of Illinois
20901 S. LaGrange Rd. Suite 209
Frankfort, IL 60423
815-464-1832 (OFFICE)
815-464-1832 (CELL)
Tony@thearcofil.org