IEMA Director Jonathon Monken said the agency has made its best case to the Illinois General Assembly for necessary funds, but if the 5 percent income tax is allowed to sunset as scheduled and cuts are made to state agency budgets, it will likely be first responders on the chopping block.
"We spend over 80 percent of funds on personnel-related costs. We're running out of other things we can cut," Monken said.
About 70 of the 215 IEMA employees are designated for emergency management, while others are included in departments such as nuclear safety.
If the governor's non-recommended budget is adopted — his recommended budget includes making the temporary tax permanent and continuing funding — Monken said the agency likely will be forced to cut 10 to 12 positions, likely at the regional level.
"They're the first folks there when something happens," he said. "Whenever we have a disaster, especially when it's widespread like (the 2013 tornadoes) we have all of our regional coordinators and regional staff involved. ... Even if their own region isn't impacted they go to help backfill."
Monken said that a 215-person work force isn't a lot when a large-scale disaster such as the Nov. 17 tornadoes happens. On that day, more than half of the force was deployed within 24 hours.
Eliminating regional positions, he said, could take response times from minutes to hours, having a huge effect on their ability to deliver aid.
"They were here, and they sprang into action. They had their trailer probably within a two- or three-hour period," Washington Mayor Gary Manier said. "They had people here every day, and obviously when FEMA (the Federal Emergency Management Agency) came on, they worked hand-in-hand with FEMA also."
Like many state agencies, IEMA has seen cuts in recent years, totaling 54 percent of general funds and 9 percent of staff, and 60 percent of IEMA's funds are used with matching federal dollars, Monken said. A 20 percent cut to the agency's general fund could result in a realistic drop of close to 32 percent of available cash.
Manier said when the tornado hit his community — the first major natural disaster under his tenure — his first instinct was to let residents back into their homes to collect personal belongings, but it was IEMA and other responders who made him aware of the safety risks that would incur and helped secure the affected areas.
That institutional knowledge and patience, he said, was invaluable.
"I was reminded you can't put your citizens at risk. They helped bring me back down," Manier said. "You can have all the books in the world on your shelf at City Hall or the police station or the fire station, but when it happens, every disaster is different. I'm glad there's professionals like IEMA and fire and police personnel."
While Monken's estimates were based on the projections in Gov. Pat Quinn's budget proposals, Republicans, such as state Sen. Darin LaHood of Dunlap, said the 20 percent cuts are a political scare tactic rather than a realistic reflection of budget changes.
"I think that it's not going to be as drastic as that," LaHood said.
While the future of the Illinois budget is difficult to predict, Monken said the needs served by IEMA aren't going anywhere.
"We've had 11 disasters in the last five years. That is a trend right now that is going sharply up. We are seeing more disasters with higher severity and with more frequency," Monken said.
©2014 Journal Star (Peoria, Ill.)
