A pattern of normalcy has taken hold of the Flint Hills during the last couple months.
For each new thunderstorm that passes over the region seemingly everyday, there’s also the expectation each morning that the state legislature isn’t going to have a tax plan approved — even though it is 22 days over session.
Crunch time is coming, though, for Topeka lawmakers and the governor, and county departments that depend on the state passing a budget and allocating funds by the end of the month are getting nervous.
Thursday morning state legislators in the House voted down another attempt at a tax plan, and Riley County Community Corrections Director Shelly Williams arrived to the county commissioners’ meeting unannounced shortly after the vote with an update on how continued dysfunction could cause problems with her department.
For instance, keeping her department open.
“If (the Department of Corrections) does not have funding to allocate to us, we would shut down business as of June 30,” she alerted commissioners in the Commission Chambers.
Commissioner Robert Boyd was confused at first and asked Williams how such an immediate deadline came to be, especially since county community corrections employees are not technically employed by the state.
Williams replied that while that was true, 100 percent of her department’s funding is provided by the state.
“(July 1) is our new fiscal year, so (if no tax plan is passed) we would not have any money to operate,” she said.
Williams said there are 9,000 people under community corrections supervision statewide, and that a shutdown could make communities less safe.
“That would be a lot of mass mayhem with no drug testing and no accountability,” she said. “So certainly, public safety would be impacted.”
Williams said the Kansas Community Corrections Association has kept her in the loop on what’s happening in Topeka, and that it is urging community members to contact their legislators.
