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Vermont Public Safety requests $777,000 in general funds, warns criminal-history fund faces more than $1 million shortfall
Summary
Department of Public Safety staff told the Appropriations Committee Jan. 29 they are proposing $75,000 to maintain a legacy records system and $702,000 to cover contracted ValCore software costs, and that the criminal history record check fund is projecting a shortfall of slightly over $1 million.
Rick Hollenbeck, director of administration at the Vermont Department of Public Safety, told the Appropriations Committee on Jan. 29 that the department is proposing general‑fund shifts totaling $777,000 to cover a legacy records system and contracted software costs and warned the criminal history record check fund is projecting a shortfall of “a little over a million dollars.”
Hollenbeck said the requests appear in the department’s Budget Adjustment Act submission and reflect two separate pressures: a shortfall in revenue drawn under the department’s negotiated indirect cost rate and a widening deficit in the criminal history record check fund used by the Vermont criminal-records system.
The proposed shifts include a $75,000 general‑fund increase to maintain the Spillman RMS legacy system so legacy data remain accessible and a $702,000 general‑fund increase to pay the contracted amount for the ValCore records management system developed by Crosswind. Hollenbeck said the criminal justice services appropriation contained a related special‑fund line that was underbudgeted at $606,000, which is why the numbers do not match exactly on paper.
Why it matters: the department told the committee these systems support statewide law‑enforcement records and reporting. Hollenbeck said the criminal history record check fund draws revenue from online criminal record purchases and that the original budget assumed adding $107,000 to that fund from the general fund; the department’s updated projection shows a much larger deficit.
Hollenbeck described the indirect cost problem as partly cyclical: the state negotiates an indirect cost rate annually and fluctuations in federal grant activity and the negotiated rate alter how much indirect cost revenue the department can draw. He said salaries and internal service fees have been major drivers of increased expenses in the administration appropriation.
Committee questions focused on technical and operational consequences. Senator Walker asked whether ValCore functions as a computer‑aided dispatch (CAD) system; Hollenbeck said Crosswind’s ValCore is a records management system (RMS) for law enforcement but, based on what he had heard, is not configured for fire or emergency medical services dispatch. Hollenbeck told the committee he would follow up with agency digital services on whether legacy Spillman data can be migrated to a newer platform and on ValCore’s interoperability with CAD used by fire and EMS agencies.
Hollenbeck also outlined several operating‑expense line items — internal service fees such as insurance, information systems charges, and human resources — that the department is proposing to shift from the interdepartmental (indirect cost) fund to the general fund to manage the current shortfall. He emphasized these are fund shifts to cover an overall deficit rather than increases to the underlying internal service fee rates.
No formal committee votes on these adjustments were recorded in the transcript excerpt; Hollenbeck closed by offering to provide follow‑up information to the committee.
