On Thursday, as negotiations ground on at the State Capitol, Christine Radogno, the Senate Republican leader, abruptly announced that she would resign. “I have done everything I can do to resolve the state’s budget crisis,” she said in a statement.

Those who have watched the situation in Springfield closely say they are in disbelief that it has dragged on this far. “Two emotions come to mind: frustrated and embarrassed,” said Bob Palmer, policy director for Housing Action Illinois, a nonprofit organization that advocates affordable housing. “It seems that the main result of this budget impasse is that the number of the state’s unpaid bills has increased by a huge amount, and the fiscal health of the state has really decreased.”

Some Chicago residents said they were vaguely aware of the lack of a state budget. Still, it had hardly affected their lives.

“I’m still shopping, I’m still eating, I’m still doing my job,” said Doris Lee, 55, a receptionist, snacking on popcorn as she strolled down State Street one afternoon this week. As for the elected officials in Springfield who caused the problem, she said: “They all stink. I want to get rid of all of them.”

But for others, there has been no escaping the effects over the last two years. In Jacksonville, about 90 miles north of St. Louis, the Wells Center, a nonprofit agency that had treated people addicted to drugs and alcohol since 1968, struggled to get payments from the state and insurers. It cut services, including a detox program and drug court counselors. By May, the center closed.

“We were going to get to the point that we were not going to be able to pay employees, we were not going to be able to pay our creditors, and the state did not look any closer to a budget,” the center’s executive director, Bruce Carter, said. “We were trying to just limp along until they could get a budget, but we felt like we wouldn’t continue to operate by just running up debts. It’s not fair to employees not to pay them.”

Frankie Redditt, the owner of Ashley’s Quality Care on the South Side of Chicago, has sent workers to help elderly people in their homes for more than two decades. They help clients bathe, eat, take their medications.