KDOC seeks higher budgets for Topeka and Winfield facilities; shifts pay into base and reappropriates capital funds

Nicole Rincher, the Kansas Legislative Research Department budget analyst, presented revised budget estimates for two Kansas Department of Corrections facilities and described several line-item adjustments and reappropriations.

For the Topeka Correctional Facility, Rincher told the committee the fiscal year 2025 approved amount was $23,700,000 and the agency’s FY25 request was $25,200,000 — an increase of $1,500,000, or 6.3 percent. Rincher said the agency included a reappropriation of $43,800 in unspent Correctional Institutions Building Fund money for capital improvement projects and added $2,400,000 from the Central Office budget to reduce the facility’s shrinkage allocation. She said the agency’s revised estimate also included $381,000 to convert previously approved shift-differential pay into base pay and proposed a $639,000 deletion to utilities to better match anticipated expenditures.

Rincher asked committee members whether they had questions before moving to fiscal year 2026; no substantive changes were recorded in committee discussion on FY25 beyond clarifying questions.

On fiscal year 2026 for Topeka, Rincher reported the agency requested $25,400,000, or $1,700,000 (7.1 percent) above the FY25 approved amount. She said the FY26 request again added $2,400,000 SGF to reduce shrinkage and included $546,000 to convert shift differential to base pay; the agency proposed deleting roughly $624,000 for utilities. The Legislative Budget Committee recommendation included a $105,000 deletion for premium pay for bilingual officers.

Rincher also summarized capital-improvement activity for Topeka as a revised estimate of $43,871 from the Correctional Institutions Building Fund, which she characterized as reappropriated funds.

The analyst then reviewed the Winfield Correctional Facility. For FY25 she said the approved amount was roughly $25,700,000 and the agency’s revised estimate was $28,000,000 — an increase of about $2,400,000 or 9.5 percent. Rincher said the agency showed a statutory GF reappropriation of $83,629 that the LBC deleted, and carried over $24,000 in unspent special revenue for capital improvements. She said Winfield’s revised FY25 request added $2,100,000 SGF in salaries to incorporate previously approved shift differential into base pay, and added $388,000 SGF for an increase in inmate incentive pay, a change the 2024 Legislature had previously approved; she noted those adjustments were funded by transfers from the KDOC Central Office budget and did not raise total statewide SGF spending.

For FY26 at Winfield, Rincher reported the agency requested $28,200,000, a $2,600,000 (10.3 percent) increase from the approved FY25 amount. She said the FY26 request included $2,300,000 in salaries (shift-differential-to-base conversion), continuation of the $388,000 inmate incentive pay increase, and a deletion of two FTE positions that were moved to Lansing Correctional Facility. The LBC recommendation included deleting $84,000 SGF for premium pay for bilingual officers.

Committee members asked routine clarifying questions during the presentations; no formal votes or policy changes were recorded during the hearing portion reported in the transcript. Rincher closed the KDOC budget hearing after summarizing the capital-improvement reappropriations for the facilities and noting printed corrections would be provided to the committee.