At a meeting of the advisory board, Director Bill reported that the state Department of Corrections grant award for local programs was reduced from $489,766 this year to $397,802 for the next year, an 18% cut to the county's overall request. "The grant has been cut. It was cut from $489,000 to 397,000, which was, that's an 18% cut," Bill said.

The cuts were targeted across program areas rather than applied as a flat percentage, Bill said: the county's community corrections request of $362,802 was approved in full; the drug court request of $65,000 was funded at $35,000 (a $30,000 reduction); and the prosecutor's diversion request of $61,964 received no funding. "We requested 61,964 for the prosecutor's diversion, and they funded 0 of that," Bill said.

Why it matters: the prosecutor diversion position and certain drug-court supports have depended on DOC grant dollars. Board members and the prosecutor's office described the prosecutor diversion role as one that also manages misdemeanor and traffic diversion work and generates revenue that supports other office functions.

What was said and what will change: meeting participants said the statewide grant spreadsheet showed prosecutor diversion programs across the state were not funded this cycle, suggesting a policy decision at the Department of Corrections rather than a county-specific cut. Bill said the department produced a statewide spreadsheet and that "none of the prosecutor's diversions throughout the state were funded." He also said jail-treatment grant requests were funded at zero in many counties.

Local responses: officials said they will seek alternate funding streams rather than immediately asking the county council to make up the shortfall. Bill said drug court will continue to operate at a reduced level because the remaining drug-court award covers the treatment director stipend and public defender costs, but some education programs and participant incentives will need other funding.

Financial context: Bill reported that the DOC grant dollars for the local program are largely exhausted for the year, with about $17,000 remaining in the grant account; he also reported a program internal (PI) reserve of $689,219. The prosecutor's office reported a separate pretrial-diversion fund balance of about $205,000 and said that fund has ongoing draws to pay deputy prosecutors and clerical staff tied to diversion work.

Discussion vs. formal action: board members discussed options including applying pretrial-diversion reserves, asking the county to absorb positions into the general fund, and pursuing external grants; no formal vote on those measures occurred at the meeting.

Background and statewide context: meeting participants said the cuts are consistent with an executive-branch directive to reduce state spending (discussed as a roughly 10% target) and that the DOC's allocations this cycle were targeted unevenly across program types. The advisory board heard that the Indiana Office of Court Services (a judicial-branch funding route) is a separate funding stream and should not be assumed to be subject to the same DOC reductions.

Next steps: staff said they will distribute the statewide DOC spreadsheet to board members and continue to explore alternate funding and budget adjustments for the prosecutor diversion position and program supports.