Illinois' payroll has been shrinking for years now and few state agencies have been slimmed down more than the departments of Human Services and Children and Family Services. That's because state officials figured out about ten years ago that non-profit agencies could provide the same services at a cheaper rate. With each passing year, however, even the minimal revenue committed to those programs has remained flat -- hovering around $5 billion annually. While private agencies have scrounged up the money to keep many services going, population growth and increasing demand have stretched many dangerously thin. The situation has only been exacerbated by chronic late state reimbursements and budget cuts over the past year.

In a report released today, the Center for Tax and Budget Accountability (CTBA) tallied up the effects of the state's waning support. After adjusting for inflation, their research (PDF) shows that human service providers have been shorted by an annual average of $385 million between fiscal years 2002 and 2010. Had legislators factored in population growth when allocating resources, those private agencies contracted to carry out the state's work would have recouped an additional $169 million a year. Add it up and that's a whopping $4.4 billion private organizations have been left to cover over the past seven years. "It's time we face the facts," CTBA executive director Ralph Martire said at a press conference today. "It's time we raise tax revenue and make appropriate investments." Watch:

As the CTBA report explains, 75 percent of human service expenditures now come in the form of grants or fees paid to non-profits that provide direct services like home care to seniors or child care for teen moms. The decision to shift that burden onto the nonprofit sector, then starve those organizations of funding, has resulted in the loss of work for an estimated 54,000 social service providers since 2002, which CTBA points out "has a negative multiplier effect" throughout Illinois' economy

Worse yet, job security is tenuous for those still employed. Chicago agency Mujeres Latinas en Accion is a prime example. Because of the state's financial crisis, president Maria Pesqueira told us earlier this week that the organization has resorted to furloughs -- which amounted to a 20 percent pay cut -- for many of its employees.

The bottom line is that without additional revenue, these nonprofits can only offset the state's shortfall for so long. And subjecting some of these agencies to an additional $400 million in new cuts could lead to the decimation of crucial programs. As Dale Strassheim, president of The Baby Fold put it at today's press conference, "We just can't afford to stay in business."