Marcfirst worried about state budget impasse

Posted on September 3, 2015

By Joe Ragusa

NORMAL – Organizations that provide help for those with developmental disabilities are still waiting for state lawmakers to figure out a budget.

Laura Furlong, CEO of Marcfirst, said the state budget impasse causes two problems.

“One is not receiving any payment, which was true in July,” Furlong said. “Until last week, we had not been paid for services in Fiscal Year 2016.”

Comptroller Leslie Munger has been ordered to pay the state’s obligations to service providers and a judge threatened to hold Munger in contempt if she failed to do so.

Furlong said that’s not the only problem.

“We’ve been working under the assumption that we would get what we had last year in terms of funding, and if a (budget cut) is taken in March, we really won’t be able to plan for that,” Furlong said. “We’ll be nine months into the (fiscal) year when that reduction happens.”

State Sen. Bill Brady said last month that it could be March when a budget is agreed upon.

Joe Ragusa can be reached at [email protected].

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