Community corrections still seeking to overcome budget shortfalls

Judge Mark McConnell, the president of the Community Corrections Board of Directors, informed County Council President Greg Kendall that if the county didn’t assist in funding the program, services may be lost.

The remarks were made between the two during the regular meeting of the board that guides community corrections. Kendall attended as a member of the public and stated he was there to learn more about the program and its budget issues.

The program is funded through a $400,000 Department of Corrections grant and fees collected through the inmates, but has faced budget shortfalls as expenses continue to increase and the funding has remained the same or lower.

Kendall told those attending that he understood the programs fulfilled a need but so much as said he wouldn’t approve the county funding it. ” “I’m not gonna tell you I’m gonna vote on it. Because one of us has to still keep everyone focused on what is going on,” Kendall said. “Sometimes you need someone from the outside looking in to make sure things don’t get out of line or out of focus.”

But McConnell stated that he felt the board had a pretty good overview of the program from its own membership.

Director of Community Corrections J.P. Weisheit proposed that the board give him authorization to ask the county to pay for the department’s budget from the general fund. Corrections would then deposit those funds received from user fees and grants back into the general fund.

Community corrections received a special grant for $200,000 but that amount will run out at the end of June. According to Weisheit, the only reason that will last until then is due to the department receiving an addition $20,000 grant from the state for a recent score on its annual inspection. “Otherwise we would be in the red,” he told the board.

Kendall has maintained that he would like corrections to take more action to collect fees from the inmates. But McConnell with the current expenses in hand, told Kendall at the meeting on Monday, that even if corrections collected every penny from the inmates, they would still fall short of the necessary funding for the center.

McConnell has stated this is due to the carte blanch raises the council approves annually as well as the cost of healthcare to the corrections center. According to McConnell, the cost of healthcare for the department has tripled since it was built in 2003. “I am sure that when they had the agreement that the center would not cost the county a dime, they couldn’t have known that the healthcare costs were going to rise that much in ten years.”

After some discussion though, it was decided that rather than asking the county to add community corrections to the county’s budget, Weisheit will approach the commissioners and council to find out what they will approve to cover any budget shortfalls. He is expected to appear in front of the commissioners at their next meeting scheduled for April 7 at the County Annex.

This most recently occurred in December when McConnell and Weisheit asked the county council for over $200,000 to cover employee health benefits for the rest of the department’s fiscal year which ended June 30. Fortunately, community corrections received confirmation of that special $200,000 grant award from the Department of Corrections before any decision on the funding was made.

According to Weisheit’s estimates community corrections saves the county over a million dollars a year through the relief it provides on the jail population. He also identified over $200,000 worth of work completed for community organizations, schools, and non-profits through work release inmates.

McConnell asked Kendall what the county would do if community corrections just declared they were going to drop insurance benefits for the community corrections employees. Kendall immediately went on the defensive and stated he would never approve such a move. “I probably wouldn’t want you to do that. Insurance for our employees is probably as important or more important than their salary is,” he told McConnell. “I would much more rather give them less money at the end of the year as a raise than to take away their insurance benefits.”

“One thing that worries me is the fact the state is involved in this,” Kendall said. “Every time we do something and we give money, the state starts pulling back theirs because, hey, the county is going to do it.”

“There’s value in community corrections or there is not,” McConnell said. “The county will have to step up or they won’t. If they don’t then, you know …”

Community Corrections Assistant Director Jenny Fuhs told the board that the people community corrections assists in creating better, more productive lives are her own neighbors as well as the board’s neighbor.

County Council woman Barb Mathies said, “It’s one of those programs that I just think is part of what Dubois County is; taking care of your own.”