Carbondale Reporter

Gov. J.B. Pritzker recently announced that funding has been made available to increase wages for eligible in-home care providers.

$54 million from the state's fiscal year 2021 and 2022 budgets have been allocated for wage hikes for in-home care providers whose services became increasingly critical during the pandemic.

State Rep. Paul Jacobs (R-Pomona) says the pay increases are necessary.

"I think it is important to make sure our elderly are well cared for. Increasing pay for in-home care providers is necessary to ensure that we are to retain good people in these important jobs. So, I have no issue with the pay increases," Jacobs told the Carbondale Reporter. "What I have an issue with is the unwillingness of the current dministration to make better budgeting decision across the board. The budget that was passed last spring had about $1 billion in goodies for Democrat legislators. Instead of using those dollars to address long-term problems such as pensions; the majority party in the House and the Senate along with the governor decided to go on a spending spree."

When asked if the wage hikes would hurt the Illinois economy, Jacobs explained that some financial restraint would go a long way to preserving the state's financial security.

"Increasing pay increases not only current costs, but future costs," Jacobs said. "There is nothing wrong with the state increasing the pay for in-home workers. The state has plenty of money now because of the infusion of federal dollars into the state’s coffers. But once the federal money dries up – we will be in serious trouble. We would be well-served to exercise some fiscal discipline now while we have federal money coming instead of waiting to address these problems when the safety net of federal money is gone."

Jacobs added that better fiscal planning is needed to make sure that spending doesn't go further off track.

"This $54 million is not a one-time investment because these salaries won’t shrink," Jacobs said. "They will only go up moving into the future. Increasing salaries have to be accounted for and there needs to better planning to accommodate these wage increases. What I find troubling is not that the governor is increasing wages but that he is unwilling to reduce overall spending or address rising pension costs."

The Illinois Department on Aging (IDoA) and Department of Human Services (DHS) will issue a bonus payment to eligible in-home service providers for services rendered between Jan. 1 and March 31, 2021 to make up for the wage that was increased to $23.40 an hour as of April 1.

Providers will receive increases that will allow employees to make a minimum of $15 per hour.