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Scott County board votes to sunset Treatment Court, shift staff and funds into enhanced community corrections
Summary
After reviewing a third-party evaluation that found similar two-year crime-free outcomes for treatment court participants and clients on standard supervision, commissioners approved sunsetting the county's Treatment Court and reallocating staff and program dollars to an enhanced community corrections caseload and to make the veterans court coordinator a full 1.0 FTE.
The Scott County Board voted to end the county's standalone Treatment Court program and shift resources into community corrections after officials presented a third-party evaluation showing comparable two-year crime-free rates between treatment court participants and clients on enhanced standard supervision.
"When we look at the volume of people we can serve on a high-risk probation caseload, we're looking at 30 to 40 a year," said Molly Buerner, Director of Community Corrections, explaining that Treatment Court historically served about 10–11 people per year and that shifting services could expand reach. The county's evaluation found roughly 84% crime-free status at two years for people successful on either Treatment Court or standard supervision.
Staff proposed transferring the treatment-court probation officer into the community corrections field budget, preserving higher-intensity supports (urinalysis testing, electronic home monitoring and mental-health supports) for an enhanced caseload, and using $152,500 in opioid-related state dollars plus client fees and a small levy amount to offset costs. The county also proposed using state grant funding to make the veterans court coordinator a full-time (1.0 FTE) position without increasing the levy.
Commissioners discussed whether the court-based wraparound model'a signature of specialty courts'would continue in field-based supervision. Buerner said the county will retain the capacity to bring clients back to court for review hearings and still coordinate wraparound services through treatment providers and case managers. "Those are the sorts of things we're doing on traditional probation anyway," she said, adding judicial review can still be used for nonpunitive status check-ins.
The board adopted the resolution to sunset the Treatment Court and approve the budget reallocations; the motion carried on a voice vote.
What happens next: County staff will shift the identified probation officer and program dollars to the community corrections budget, continue core supports for high-risk clients, and maintain the veterans court coordinator as a fully funded position under the district-level grant.
