By Jim Talamonti | The Center Square
The Center Square

(The Center Square) – Gov. J.B. Pritzker has announced the investment of nearly $300 million in taxpayer funds for a new veterans home in Quincy, but an Army veteran and state senator says the governor has mismanaged Veterans Affairs and other state agencies.

The governor joined state and local officials at the ribbon-cutting for the new Quincy facility on Monday. According to the Illinois Department of Veterans Affairs and the Capital Development Board, the renovation and rehabilitation project provides a long-term care home for 210 residents and an independent living facility for 88 residents.

Seven buildings were demolished as part of the project, which also included work on existing infrastructure, utilities, and landscaping.

Pritzker said the veterans home in Quincy has stood as a testament to Illinois’ dedication to caring for military heroes.

“This has been the biggest and most important building project in our Rebuild Illinois capital construction program. It is the first one that I committed to getting done for our state when I was elected to office,” the governor said.

Pritzker has been in office since 2019. The governor’s Rebuild Illinois capital plan, enacted in 2019, links annual gas tax increases to the Consumer Price Index. With the latest hike on July 1, Illinois has one of the highest gas taxes in the nation at 48.3 cents per gallon.

As the son and grandson of Navy veterans, Pritzker said he felt deep responsibility to military families.

“Whether we’re talking about the Army, Air Force, Navy, Marines, Coast Guard, Space Force or the National Guard, Illinois is, frankly, all in in support of our military men and women, their families and our veterans,” Pritzker said.

The Quincy veterans home experienced a major outbreak of Legionnaire’s Disease in 2015 and several COVID-19 outbreaks in recent years.

State Sen. Li Arellano Jr., R-Dixon, is a squad leader in the Army Reserves and previously served in three combat deployments.

Arellano said overspending leads to state government running out of money to manage critical needs.

“We’ve seen that in [the Department of Children and Family Services], we’ve seen that in our veterans homes, obviously, during COVID. We’ve seen that in the Department of Corrections, you know, we’ve seen it all over the place,” Arellano told The Center Square.

Arellano pointed to DCFS, DOC and veterans as groups that have not gotten the attention they should have received.

“The state has mis-prioritized its funds, built up debts and then just hollowed out its agencies and not been able to properly manage the people who need them the most, the people who can’t advocate for themselves,” Arellano said.

Arellano said governments can’t properly function when they rack up immense debts.

“All of those things reveal themselves in the management of our agencies, and the Department of Veterans Affairs is no exception. We have seen the failures in management that aren’t even necessarily money-related at this point,” Arellano said. “They have to do with management and the ability to hire and retain good people, and what’s happened in Illinois government over the decades, we’ve lost some of that.”