OCCY seeks $1.63 million increase in state appropriations for statutory duties; commissioners approve request

Mark James, speaking for the Oklahoma Commission on Children and Youth, presented the commission’s state fiscal year 2027 budget request on Sept. 19 and asked the commission to approve a prioritized total request of $1,630,000 to be submitted to the state (deadline Oct. 1). James said the commission currently receives $3.1 million in state appropriations; about 94.8% of that is consumed by payroll, leaving little or no funds for required fixed operational costs.

James and OCCY staff identified nine prioritized requests totaling $1,630,000: 1) $342,000 for operational overhead (rent, IT, finance/HR services and other fixed costs); 2) a salary-adjustment plan to move agency pay toward comparative state pay bands (James described the request as a strategic, position-based increase rather than an across-the-board raise); 3) three full-time positions for the Office of Juvenile System Oversight (a director and two investigators) to meet recent statutory duties; 4) $45,000 to cover juvenile competency evaluations (previously funded at $60,000 but insufficient given recent volume); 5) $56,000 for external evaluation/reporting contracts (e.g., university evaluation services); 6) one position for an endowment developer to implement the Oklahoma Children’s Endowment Fund (statute-created 2018); 7) a full-time post-adjudication review board (PARB) coordinator for Tulsa County; 8) a children-of-incarcerated-parents (CIP) coordinator position; and 9) $100,000 to expand mentoring programming for children of incarcerated parents.

James said statutory changes this year expanded OCCY’s real-time investigative responsibilities for facility maltreatment complaints (requiring timelier investigative work), but the statute did not include additional staff for those duties. He also said indirect costs historically absorbed by partner contracts will now need to be charged, and that staff used an indirect-cost analysis to calculate realistic overhead.

Commissioners discussed the priorities, asked about personnel cost impacts and reimbursement sources, and heard that OCCY currently relies in part on federal (4E) reimbursements and partner-funded work to cover some costs; James warned that federal reimbursement rates have declined. A commissioner on the finance committee complimented staff on the depth of their costing work.

A motion to approve the FY2027 state budget request was made and approved by roll call. The meeting record shows one abstention during roll call; the motion passed and OCCY staff will submit the prioritized request to the appropriate state budget offices by the Oct. 1 deadline.