Think Winfield Correctional Facility won’t close just because the amount of a proposed state budget reduction has been lowered by nearly 2 percent? That’s not necessarily true, the state’s corrections secretary said in a new memo released Thursday.
Secretary Roger Werholtz issued a memorandum, available on the state’s Web site, that was addressed to Kansas Department of Corrections staff and dated Jan. 29. In it, he indicates that cuts mentioned in an earlier memo will be considered even if a smaller budget reduction is made.
"At the present time senior staff are reviewing the amended legislation to determine what actions we need to take to achieve the reductions. The specific reductions, once determined, will come from the options that were identified in my memo of January 27," Werholtz writes in the memo.
That list included closing facilities in Winfield and Norton, advancing the suspension of operations at Stockton Correctional Facility, abolishing parole and post release supervision and suspending all treatment and intervention programs.
Any option chosen is slated to take effect April 1, according to Werholtz’s previous memo.
Kansas Senators Wednesday reached a compromise that would reduce the amount of the proposed across-the-board budget reduction for all state agencies to 1.5 percent, rather than 3.4 percent.
The larger reduction would have meant a $9.3 million spending cut for the corrections department. The smaller cut amounts to $4.1 million, Werholtz said in the memo.
At this point any reduction talk is speculative because a budget proposal must also pass in the House. Once the House and Senate agree on a plan, budget legislation goes to Gov. Kathleen Sebelius for approval. Werholtz said House discussion of the budget cuts could start Friday.
An after-hours call to the department of corrections was not immediately returned.
