CDOC asks JBC for targeted funds as staffing gaps, food inflation and maintenance needs grow
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Summary
Department of Corrections leaders told the Joint Budget Committee they need $648,000 to address food-service inflation, $74,000 for laundry inflation and an annual maintenance appropriation for the EOMIS offender-records system, while pressing hiring incentives and retention work to address critical vacancies.
The Colorado Department of Corrections asked the Joint Budget Committee for targeted funding and argued for continued investments to stabilize operations as the system faces inflation and workforce shortages.
"On behalf of the over 6,000 staff and the 20,000 individuals that are in our care, we thank you for the opportunity to present this morning," Director Stansell said, opening the department's briefing. Finance Director Mitch Carsons told the committee the R3 request seeks $648,000 in ongoing General Fund dollars to cover food-service inflation and to restore money moved from equipment repair into food purchases. "The request is for $648,000 of general fund dollars, in ongoing food service sub grama and operating expenses, to cover food service inflation as well as operating costs within food service," Carsons said.
Carsons said the department has been forced to delay maintenance on kitchen equipment in order to buy food, which increases long-term costs because the agency must sometimes purchase baked goods from vendors when equipment cannot be used. He also described a separate laundry inflation request of about $74,000 tied to rising textile and chemical costs.
On information technology, Carsons described the EOMIS offender-records system as a decade-long capital project that is moving into an ongoing maintenance phase. "That project is nearing completion at the end of this fiscal year and will move into the maintenance side starting next year," he said, adding that maintenance fees previously covered by capital dollars will need annual appropriations.
Lawmakers pressed the department for detail. Representative Taggart asked whether the EOMIS project anticipated a roughly $3.4 million maintenance cost; Carsons said the department would retrieve the original estimates and return them to the committee. Several members asked for clearer documentation of which operating lines must shift between contract services and personal services and whether the long bill had already specified limits.
The department repeatedly tied the budget ask to workforce pressures. Michelle Cottingham, director of human resources, said vacancy rates have fallen from about 17.66% two years ago to 12.56% now, in part because of incentives and hiring initiatives, but warned that many incentive-funded hires have 12-month commitments and could leave when that period ends. "Current projections suggest a decline in clinical hiring this fiscal year without an incentive program," she said.
CDOC officials said they are pairing short-term incentives with work on retention and workplace culture, including new cultural assessments and a wellness app. Carsons highlighted a wellness platform called Cortico that was made available inside facilities and that the department reports has been adopted by about 68% of staff.
The department did not present formal motions or vote outcomes at the hearing. Committee members asked the agency for follow-ups with detailed cost data and historical requests as they consider the supplemental and decision items that will appear in upcoming budget deliberations.
