Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Budget topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
KDOC budget review: behavioral-health ask and community supervision cost advantages
Summary
KDOC staff told legislators that community corrections is substantially cheaper per person than incarceration and highlighted a budget request to expand behavioral-health grants and staffing. The department provided FY21-FY26 tables and a FY27 enhancement request focused on staff wages and behavioral-health funding.
KDOC fiscal staff summarized the department's community corrections funding and proposed enhancements to meet rising costs and service needs.
Nicole Rincher, KDOC fiscal analyst for corrections, told the Select Committee the department's community corrections funding is largely appropriated from the state general fund, with some special revenue support from a community corrections supervision fund funded by DUI fines. She provided tables of expenditures by account and program for FY2021 through FY2026 and said the legislature approved a $5 million increase for FY25 for additional intensive supervision officers and operating costs.
Rincher compared costs and reported FY25 averages of $115.27 per day ($42,000 per year) for a resident in an adult correctional facility versus $11.76 per day (about $4,300 per year) for community supervision. That difference underpins KDOC's long-standing emphasis on probation and community-based supervision where appropriate.
KDOC told the committee it plans a FY27 enhancement request to raise community corrections staffing funding by roughly $728,000 SGF and to increase the behavioral-health grant by $1.5 million to $4.5 million SGF. The department said inflation has eroded purchasing power and that the behavioral-health grant has remained at $3 million SGF since its first appropriation in FY2014.
The department provided a final revised funding allocation model and a proposed redistribution if the formula were implemented; KDOC later paused implementation and said it would convene an independent review to validate the approach.
KDOC also said counties can carry unspent grant funds for a limited time and that the secretary can audit programs and reassign unexpended funds when counties do not comply with statutory requirements.
