MATTESON, Ill. — Big cuts gave way to peer pressure in the southwest suburbs Monday night when village officials met to discuss possible layoffs of police and firefighters.

Matteson officials have been adamant over the last few weeks that they had no choice but to dramatically reduce the size of their police and fire departments.

Monday night, they said since they made that announcement, they’ve seen a spike in crime. So plans have changed.

The village had been planning to literally cut its police force in half and its fire department by over one-third in the face of an $8 million dollar budget deficit.

Taxpayers and the police and fire unions got extremely vocal about what laying-off  first responders would mean to this southwest suburb.

Some police union members came armed with documents and spreadsheets that reveal the cost of a community center, one residents actually voted against, as just one of the financial missteps they say led local officials to very nearly cut in the worst possible place.

Now the village president now says he’ll look to trim elsewhere.

Village leaders are now calling for more meetings with taxpayers to get their input as they look for other ways to balance the books.