There are places to cut spending in Illinois government, but Gov. Pat Quinn and legislative leaders need to work together.

Crises don't usually lend themselves to calm deliberation, but the state's continuing budget crisis could use a lot more deliberating and a lot less posturing.

In the latest instance, Gov. Pat Quinn said last week that he intends to close a prison in Lincoln, a youth prison in Murphysboro and facilities for the mentally ill and disabled in Rockford, Jacksonville, Tinley Park, Dixon and Chester. Those closures, along with cuts elsewhere in government, would eliminate nearly 2,000 jobs.

Reaction was swift. Union leaders say the layoffs would break a no-layoff agreement, Republicans accused Quinn of partisanship in recommending closures in Republican districts, and advocates for the developmentally disabled in targeted state facilities started to organize.

Quinn pointed the finger at the Legislature for not appropriating enough money to run state government for the year. He should look in the mirror instead, because he saw this coming the minute the Legislature sent its budget to him in May, a budget he did not veto.

Instead of using the past three months to work with legislative leaders on where to cut spending, he announced proposed budget cuts that have upset a lot of people but may never come to pass.

The cuts are estimated to save $54.8 million, still leaving a gap of nearly $183 million between the spending lawmakers authorized and what the governor says is the minimum needed to operate Illinois government for a full year. Quinn wants the Legislature to reallocate money to make up the difference.

He's also still pushing his plan to borrow money to pay off the state's massive backlog of bills, exactly the wrong approach because paying off massive borrowing from the past is part of the current problem.

But the state's revenue picture is improving. State revenues are up sharply over the first two months of the fiscal year because of the 66 percent increase in personal income tax and nearly 50 percent increase in corporate income tax.

It is true that the budget the Legislature gave Quinn contained significantly less spending than he asked for. The House in particular set a conservative budget that would keep spending below estimated revenues and use any extra money to whittle away at the state's massive backlog of bills, the right strategy in our view. Senate Democrats wanted the budget set at a higher level to increase spending on programs, but in the end they gave in.

The state needs to place priority on tackling the budget behemoths — pensions, health care and the bill backlog. But there are other areas where changes may make both good policy and fiscal sense.

A couple of examples:

— Illinois' prisons are bursting at the seams, which is why it doesn't make much sense to close one now. But it's time to look at the state's correctional policies. Do we really need 49,000 inmates in Illinois prisons?

— College enrollment is trending down — do we need all the state universities we have?

— Some advocates for the developmentally disabled think that closing state facilities is not a bad idea because community mental health care is more effective and less costly, but can the state commit to the funding?

It's time to reassess what the state is doing, what it should be doing and what it can afford to do. It will be a long and painful climb out of the budget hole Illinois is in, and many people dependent on state services could be hurt. Good government seems to have been in short supply in recent years in Illinois. If ever we've needed it, now's the time.