The stalled state budget has caused many in Springfield to become restless.

Gov. Rod Blagojevich vetoed a portion of the state budget on Thursday, Aug. 23, removing $463 million in state spending. This move affected citizens statewide – including those at NIU – and caused a stir in Springfield.

The vetoes made reductions of $15.8 million from constitutional office budgets for personnel and other grants, $141.3 million from legislative add-ons and $306 million from other agency spending while the rest of the budget went into law.

In an Aug. 23 press release, Blagojevich said the cuts are “special pet projects and other spending that we simply can’t afford.”

He also announced plans to “bolster state health care programs and give 500,000 more Illinoisans access to affordable health coverage and services,” as explained in the press release.

Blagojevich’s vetoes to the state budget have created a stir in Springfield.

“We certainly are disappointed by the governor’s actions,” said Sen. Bradley Burzynski (R-35). He also said he thought that the cuts were a “shame.”

Burzynski said community service providers will be the most affected, and felt all college-age students would be impacted as well.

Rep. Robert Pritchard, (R-70), was also upset about the governor’s vetoes.

“I think we [legislature] really improved the budget,” Pritchard said. He also said he thought the governor’s vetoes were ridiculous, especially since the budget took six months to craft.

“You can’t accept what the governor says for face value,” Pritchard said. He also said you have to look at what the governor does, not what he says.

Pritchard also expressed his concerns that the governor cares more about expanding health care to more people, while he is concerned about taking care of people who already have health care.

Both Burzynski and Pritchard said Senate President Emil Jones will not allow an override of the veto.

“He [Jones] is continuing to feed the voters’ skepticism for politicians,” Pritchard said.

Burzynski and Pritchard both urge concerned individuals to contact the governor’s office and Senator Jones’s office about the state budget.

“It is definitely not in the best interest of the voters,” Pritchard said. He also said there should be some give-and-take between the legislature and the governor.

Affects at NIU

Pritchard said DeKalb and NIU students will definitely be affected by the changes of the state budget, especially dealing with the availability and affordability of health care.

NIU received around a 1.8 percent increase from last year’s budget, making it the highest increase the university has received in the last five years, although the legislature voted for around 1.9 percent increase, said Ken Zehnder, associate director of external affairs.

NIU received $105,867,700 for NIU’s budget, but the legislature had added on $123,900 to the budget, which the governor cut. The cut money was meant to pay for operations, but Zehnder said NIU still has money to run operations properly.

“On the operations side, we can proceed according to our plan because that money is available,” Zehnder said. “On the capital side there is no money provided by the state and that’s where the real need exists.”

The capital budget would go toward NIU’s top priority projects like the Stevens Hall renovations, planning money for a computer science technology center, Wirtz Hall renovations and electrical distribution.

Without money for the capital budget and deferred maintenance, the amount of backlog repairs get longer and longer, Zehnder said.

“We are always hopeful for a better budget and for a capital budget, but anytime we get something for an operation budget we are all grateful for that,” said Ray Alden, executive vice-president and provost.