Supporters of the Tinley Park Mental Health Center were rejoicing Tuesday after hearing the facility would remain open through the fiscal year, which ends June 30.

The center was set to close Dec. 3, but Gov. Pat Quinn announced late Monday that his office and legislative leaders had come to an agreement that delays its closing.

“It was a marvelous thing to me,” said Barb Foster, president of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Local 1591 representing the facility’s state workers. “We can breathe a sigh of relief for our clients, at least until June.”

Quinn announced in September his plans to close the center along with six other state facilities all by early 2012 because of a budget shortfall. During a veto session in Springfield Tuesday, lawmakers approved a budget reallocation plan to keep the state facilities open.

Since September, mental health advocates and union supporters have expressed concern that patients currently served in Tinley Park would have no where else to seek treatment if the facility was shut down on such a short timeline.

“It’s getting winter time and that’s when we get a high amount of admissions,” Foster said. “That was one of my biggest worries was what’s going to happen to these clients.”

After 30-day layoff notices were distributed to about 200 Tinley Park center workers Nov. 2, employees had begun holding layoff meetings and making preparations to shut down on Saturday, she said.

“Maybe now knowing this, the Christmas holiday will be a little better for people,” Foster said.

Quinn’s office said legislative leaders have agreed to shift monies around in the current budget to keep the seven state facilities open through June 30, but the future the Tinley Park center after that date is still up in the air.

Quinn has said he still plans to close two mental health centers and up to four developmental centers in the next 2 1/2 years. A spokeswoman from Quinn’s office said the details of that long-term plan have yet to be laid out, but a timeline summary released by the governor’s office earlier this month says new patient admissions to the Tinley Park center would be stopped by June 30, 2012. A second state psychiatric hospital in addition to the Tinley Park center would close within 2 1/2 years, according to the plan.

Spokeswoman Annie Thompson said Tuesday the governor’s office is still finalizing its budget proposal for the coming year and will release more details about its plans for the center in the future.

Advocates say while they’re happy to hear the operations timeline has been extended, their fight to maintain support services for residents with mental illnesses in the south suburbs is not over.

“The good news is it gives the state, providers and advocates some time to plan and to work on thinking about how to serve people who are currently being served by Tinley Park if in fact the governor tries to close it in July,” said Mark Heyrman, chairman of the Public Policy Committee for Mental Health America of Illinois. “Our goal is to try and make sure there is a plan in place to serve these people.”

Heyrman said Mental Health America of Illinois plans to file a lawsuit in January to make sure that if the Tinley Park center is closed, the state will reinvest its operating funds in community-based services as required by law.

“So far the state has said they do not intend to spend money to provide alterative services and we believe that is illegal and very bad public policy,” he said.

Marianne Bithos, president of the National Alliance on Mental Illness for the South Suburbs of Chicago, said her organization will continue to fight for its goal to make sure residents in need of mental health services can receive them in the south suburbs, either at Tinley Park or other nearby facilities.

“We are really happy they are keeping it open, but we still have to keep focused,” she said. “There is a lot of work ahead of us. The services can’t go away. These people deserve better than they’re getting.”

Before Monday’s announcement, Rep. Kevin McCarthy, D-Orland Park, said the Tinley Park center should remain open until alternative plans can be made for the about 1,900 patients receiving treatment at the facility each year. He said testimony from area health providers and mental health advocates during last month’s public hearing on plans to close the center suggested there are too few services available to support area residents if the center closes without alternative plans for patient care.

“I think the argument was made pretty strongly that Tinley Park does need to stay open for the foreseeable future,” he said.