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February 28, 2009
KS: Stimulus Money Could Keep Prison Open
2/28/2009
Stimulus money could save local prison
By DAVE SEATON
Publisher
Winfield Daily Courier
A new state budget being put together by Gov. Kathleen Sebelius may take the Winfield Correctional Facility off the chopping block.
Kansas Secretary of Corrections Roger Werholtz told a Cowley County task force Friday the governor's revised budget contained $40.5 million in stimulus money for corrections in fiscal year 2010.
"If that's the budget the Legislature adopts," Werholtz said, "I think Winfield's off the radar."
Werholtz said he hoped D cell block at the Winfield prison would remain closed for about six months. The cell block was tabbed for closure in April to save money in fiscal year 2009, which ends June 30.
"We're trying to do things that will allow us to get back to where we came from," Werholtz said.
Some $40.5 million in stimulus funds for corrections are expected to go into the governor's revised fiscal 2011 budget as well, according to Werholtz. Equal amounts will be backed out each year into the state general fund, he said.
The stimulus funds will fill the gap in the 2010 budget and allow the Department of Corrections to avoid closing prisons at Winfield or Norton in the coming year, Werholtz implied. Kansas may receive a total of $1.7 billion in stimulus money over two years.
It is unclear just what might happen to the state budget beyond fiscal 2010.
"I feel like we're all flying blind," said Sen. Steve Abrams, R-Arkansas City.
Abrams, along with Reps. Kasha Kelley, R-Arkansas City, and Ed Trimmer, D-Winfield, were present as Werholtz met the task force of nine local leaders in his department's offices in Topeka Friday afternoon.
WCF Warden Emmalee Conover opened the discussion, recounting events since cuts were made in the department's current budget by the governor and the Legislature.
With the stimulus money, cuts for the coming fiscal year could be held at 10 percent of the governor's budget proposal submitted in January, Werholtz said. This would not save satellite prisons at Toronto nor Stockton, day reporting centers in Wichita and Topeka, nor an addiction therapy program at Osawatomie, he said.
At 10 percent, the El Dorado North unit could close and a number of programs for inmate re-entry and community support could be lost, Werholtz said. Only if cuts reached 18 percent would the prisons at Winfield and Norton be closed, he said.
Heidi Hill, director of the Cowley First economic and community development agency, organized the trip to Topeka and the presentation there. She spoke in support of keeping WCF open, striking a theme of partnership between the community and the prison.
Also speaking were Warren Porter, Winfield city manager; Steve Archer, Arkansas City manager; Marvin Estes, superintendent of Winfield schools; Mick Roark, manager of Northern Contours, an employer of WCF inmates; and Dotty Smith, Arkansas City commissioner.
Werholtz expressed gratitude for the task force visit.
"What I'm grateful for is just the fact that you have come out and shared that information," he said.
Werholtz invited Hill to send a letter of support for the Winfield facility.
http://winfieldcourier.com/main.asp?SectionID=1&SubSectionID=1&ArticleID=29088
Posted by lois at February 28, 2009 10:59 AM