Randolph County's historic sites slashed in budget cuts
</element><element id="paragraph-1" type="body"><![CDATA[Conservationists predict the $14 million being slashed from the Illinois Department of Natural Resources' budget will lead to job cuts and parks curtailing their hours or closing. The IDNR administers the World Shooting and Recreation Complex in Sparta. It also regulates hunting and fishing throughout the state.
Jonathan Goldman of the Illinois Environmental Council predicts that the department will lay off about 160 of its 1,420 employees.
Similar cuts are affecting the Department of Historic Preservation, where the annual budget has been cut in half and a majority of employees are worried about their jobs.
"It's almost criminal," State Senator David Luechtefeld, R-Okawville, told the Herald Tribune. "The department has been cut to where it's just a skeleton," Luechtefeld said of the Historic Preservation Department. "The same is true for Natural Resources."
"There may be closings—certainly reduced hours—at many sites, hurting tourism," Luechtefeld said. That would include such popular Randolph County historical sites as Fort de Chartres in Prairie du Rocher, Fort Kaskaskia and the Pierre Menard Home in Chester, and the Kaskaskia Bell, called the Liberty Bell of the West on Kaskaskia Island.
"It'll be up to the Department of Historic Preservation," Luechtefeld said of managing the huge loss of funds. "It's not a good situation."
"We've taken in $7 billion more in revenue since Gov. (Rod) Blagojevich took office and it's been spent on new programs. They started programs they cannot pay for and they've had to steal from other budgets."
Last week the House voted to reverse about $480 million in budget cuts imposed by Blagojevich, but their action has little chance of taking effect unless the Senate approves. Senate President Emil Jones, D-Chicago, a staunch supporter of Blagojevich, states that overriding the budget cuts would be "totally irresponsible."
The budget still isn't balanced, according to Luechtefeld. He says, "The state is in a bigger mess than you know." And there's not much hope of fixing it, he said, "Until you can get new leadership."
Blagojevich has said he had no choice but to cut the budget after lawmakers sent him a $59 billion budget without enough revenue to cover expenses.
Another $1 billion in budget cuts are also on track to take effect, creating a major squeeze for state services from parks to prisons to colleges.