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| Iowa corrections agency proposes more funding, staffing |
| By wcfcourier.com - ROD BOSHART, Lee-Gazette Des Moines Bureau |
| Published: 08/27/2012 |
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DES MOINES --- State corrections officials proposed spending increases as high as $38.7 million for the next fiscal year to fill up to 500 new positions, but critics said new staff would go to open new facilities instead of existing prisons. Department of Corrections director John Baldwin outlined budget options on Friday that sought increases between $22.1 million and $38.7 million for fiscal 2014 and additional spending in the range of nearly $5 million to $17.3 million in fiscal 2015. Currently, the agency has been allocated an overall fiscal 2013 spending level of about $367 million and a staff of 3,772 full-time positions through next June 30. "We are asking for what we think is a very defensible budget, one that brings staff back to the Iowa Department of Corrections," Baldwin said. The agency's oversight board will take final action next month on a two-year budget plan that department officials will submit to Gov. Terry Branstad. The budget proposal included funding and staff to open new prisons in Fort Madison and Mitchellville over the next year and to operate community-based residential facilities in Cedar Rapids, Davenport, Ottumwa, Sioux City and Waterloo. Those facilities are built but have about 165 vacant beds and waiting lists because lawmakers have not yet authorized the money needed to open them. Budget plans also proposed capital expenditures of $34 million next fiscal year and nearly $28 million in fiscal 2015 to build residential facilities in Des Moines, Ames and Burlington and to address other maintenance and infrastructure needs. Read More. |
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