CHAMPAIGN – Prairie Center Health Systems will reopen its detoxification unit and suspend plans to lay off 51 employees while officials wait to see how the latest budget news from Springfield plays out.

The detox unit closed a few days ago in anticipation of deep state budget cuts due to take effect March 15. But Gov. Pat Quinn's administration Thursday scaled back plans to slash spending on drug and alcohol programs after protests across the state.

"It's good news in that we got another day to breathe and my staff isn't laid off," Prairie Center Chief Executive Officer Bruce Suardini said Friday. But he added, "we're still in limbo."

Instead of cutting $208 million, Quinn's budget office said human services programs will be cut $100 million next month, though Suardini said more cuts could come before the fiscal year ends July 1.

The change came just a week after the Department of Human Services shocked groups that treat addictions by announcing that their state funding would end next month. The groups said it would force them to halt services to 55,000 clients and lay off 5,000 employees.

Quinn spokeswoman Kelly Kraft said the department was able to scale back the cuts by canceling plans to hire some new employees and by finding more federal money for the services.

Agencies will get more specific information about the cuts over the next few weeks, officials said.

Quinn has proposed additional cuts for human services in fiscal 2012, which starts July 1. And Suardini said Department of Human Services Director Michelle Saddler indicated more cuts are possible over the next few months.

Suardini had closed Prairie Center's detox unit this week, and by Wednesday all 10 beds in the residential treatment program were empty. On Thursday, he instructed his staff to open up admissions again, and by that night it had filled up again, he said.

"That tells you that they're out there," he said.

He's not sure when he'll get reimbursed, but "we'll eat the cost if we have to," he said. Prairie Center has other local and federal funding, and could finish out the fiscal year with a "shell operation," Suardini said.

His staff was angry and frustrated at the on-again, off-again layoffs.

"They've been on a roller-coaster ride since last Friday," he said. "They're caught in the middle."

Sheila Ferguson, executive director of Community Elements mental health center in Champaign, said she's still trying to figure out how her agency will be affected. The cuts could potentially affect money for developmental disabilities, mental illness and substance abuse, she said.

"We don't know what the $100 million includes," she said. "It still could have pretty devastating effects on the continuum of care in this community."

Her agency is "very interconnected" with Prairie Center, as many patients with mental health issues also have problems with substance abuse, she said.

Ferguson is concerned about the impact on patients from the constant uncertainty about the state budget.

The governor has a history of threatening cuts to human services early in the budget process and then backing off by the time the final budget is approved, Ferguson said.

"It cause a lot of problems in the meantime," she said.

Patients are confused about whether services are still available and wind up seeking more expensive help through a hospital emergency room instead of going to Prairie Center or Community Elements, she said.

"We are accepting new patients," Ferguson said. "We're working with people every day."

After several years of cuts, she added, "there is no more savings to be had from cutting human services." Any costs saved by from cutting treatment programs will be passed on to taxpayers in the form of more expensive emergency care or law enforcement or incarceration costs for addicts who aren't able to get treated, she said.