$157,000 added to community corrections’ annual grant

Dubois County Community Corrections officials confirmed today that the Indiana Department of Corrections has approved an addition of $157,000 to the annual grant that it awards to the center.

The grant which is for fiscal year July 2014 through June 2015 will increase from $400,000 annually to $557,000.

Community Corrections has been operating at a deficit since last year when the DOC approved a one time grant of $200,000 to assist the program. It was expected that the department would return to operating in the red after that grant ran out either in June or July — DOC grants payments are allocated monthly.

The additional funding announced today, however, is a permanent increase in the annual grant from the DOC. The department will receive 80 percent of the grant in July and the remaining 20 percent will be paid over the next 11 months.

It’s a welcome relief for community corrections whose budget shortfalls have been the topic of discussion at the county council meetings recently.

Director J.P. Weisheit and Community Corrections Board President Judge Mark McConnell have approached the county council several times recently appealing for county funding to assist the beleaguered department. But council members have been critical of the department’s troubles in collecting participant fees — about $600,000 in fees have went uncollected since the program started.

The community corrections board has maintained that these fees would never cover the cost of operations at the center. They blame the shortfall on the stagnant grant from the state and the increased costs associated with wages and benefits — specifically health insurance benefits that have increased threefold since the center was established — and asked the county to assist in paying those benefits.

Although the council has not approved assisting the center in paying those benefits, recently they agreed to cover any budget shortfalls on a case-by-case basis and allocated about $70,000 additional funding for the program.

Weisheit stated he appreciated that the Indiana Department of Corrections Commissioner Bruce Lemmon and Indiana Department of Corrections Director Mike Lloyd saw the impact Dubois County Community Corrections was making in the county and approved the increase to the annual grant.

“Now the pressure is going to be off but it’s business as usual,” Weisheit said. “I will be sleeping better at night knowing we can keep our programs going here. The whole idea of this [community corrections] is to keep people out of the jail and keep them in this facility, which is a win-win for the county and the people we provide treatment to.”

“Community-based corrections have many advantages to imprisonment,” Judge McConnell stated in a press release today. “They allow offenders to contribute to the community by performing community service, growing food for the local food bank, and working jobs to pay taxes and provide for family members while participating in programs proven to lead to successful rehabilitation and reduced recidivism.”