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Planned layoffs of deputies spurs outrage downstate

BELLEVILLE, Ill. — Plans to lay off 13 St. Clair County sheriff's deputies aren't being accepted quietly by the affected law enforcers and their backers in southwestern Illinois.

The Belleville News-Democrat reports that before and after Monday night's meeting of the county board, about 150 people protested the layoffs scheduled to take effect Jan. 15.

Jeff Butzinger says he's worried about deputy response time after the layoffs.

The county's 46 patrol deputies last week unanimously rejected a contract offer that would have given them a 1 percent pay increase in exchange for no jobs being lost.

County Board Chairman Mark Kern cited the recession and the state's financial problems as reasons why the county can't afford to keep all the deputies and give them raises called for by an arbitrator.