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Committee advances $506,469 appropriation for Returning Home Inc.; amends contract dates and funding source
Summary
The committee amended and forwarded an ordinance to appropriate $506,469 for Returning Home Inc.'s CAP transitional housing program, corrected program dates and changed the funding source language from the general reserve fund to the general fund before recommending the ordinance to Quorum Court.
The Finance and Budget Committee amended and forwarded to the Quorum Court an ordinance to appropriate $506,469 to Returning Home Inc. to extend the agency's CAP (comprehensive alternative program) transitional housing services.
Committee members amended the ordinance's date language to show the program period for the proposed appropriation runs from 05/01/2026 through 04/30/2027 and clarified the existing partnership began in 2022. Comptroller staff identified that the appropriation should be moved from the general reserve fund code shown in the draft to the county's unappropriated general fund (so the line will be funded from the general fund rather than the reserve account) and the committee adopted that edit before forwarding the amended ordinance to the full court with a recommendation to pass.
The Returning Home representative explained that the program runs four‑month residential stays for qualifying men and that the judicial and defense communities refer potential participants; committee members and a judge spoke to CAP's role as an alternative to incarceration and the operational need to have county commitment so Returning Home can schedule clients and staffing. Several committee members argued the program saves incarceration costs and provides supervision, counseling and employment supports that would otherwise be unavailable.
Committee members asked staff for budgetary detail and an accounting of previous county payments; several members said they expect Returning Home to provide the full program budget and line‑item accounting as part of the follow‑up to the committee and before final appropriation by Quorum Court. The committee voted to forward the amended ordinance to the full Quorum Court as a do‑pass recommendation.
The comptroller will include the amended appropriation language in the budget/ordinance that Quorum Court will consider; the appropriation would fund a 12‑month program period that begins May 1, 2026 if Quorum Court approves the appropriation.
