Marion County Community Corrections seeks $7.4M, proposes pay bump and higher monitoring costs

Marion County Community Corrections asked the Community Questions Advisory Board on March 20 to approve submission of a 2026 Justice Reinvestment Grant application totaling $7,397,456.22. Chief Financial Officer Justin Garcia told the board the request includes proposed salary increases for correctional staff, a 10% increase in electronic monitoring costs tied to pending state legislation, and additional money for health insurance and cost-of-living adjustments.

Garcia said the total request breaks down roughly into $4.25 million for community supervision and $3.15 million for work release, and that personnel costs make up the majority of each portion. He said the request would seek to raise starting pay for certain corrections positions to bring them closer to starting pay for detention deputies.

Why it matters: The request, if awarded and later approved locally, would increase recurring personnel costs and could be used to raise starting salaries and recruitment competitiveness for community corrections staff. The county finance officer…