Illinois Valley News

According to the latest revenue forecast, the state of Oregon is facing a $577 million shortfall to meet its financial obligations between now and June 30, 2011.

A majority of legislators have opted against a special session to plug the gap, and Gov. Kulongoski is using the allotment authority granted to him under state law to make 9 percent across-the-board cuts to all state agencies.

But some of the state-funded programs administered at the local level are crucial components of Josephine County“s criminal justice system, and will be among those facing reductions.

Community Corrections Director Abe Huntley said that the department has approximately 33 employees, including 13 parole and probation officers and four drug and alcohol counselors.

Huntley said that the department supervises some 1,000 offenders, three-fourths of whom were involved in felony offenses.

Janine Wilson, director of the juvenile justice program, said that department“s employees include five probation officers. Three of them serve youth in the community, Wilson said.

She said that juvenile justice supervises approximately 100 youth who are on probation in the county, and operates a 14-bed detention center and 16-bed shelter.

Statewide, Wilson said, juvenile justice is a risk-based system that handles 95 percent of juvenile cases. The other 5 percent are managed by the Oregon Youth Authority (OYA), she added.

Juvenile justice utilizes evidence-based programs such as aggression replacement therapy and functional family therapy to try and prevent youth offenders from continuing criminal behaviors into adulthood, Wilson said.

There currently are 24 youth in custody at the county“s OYA facility, she said. Of those 24, she said, nine are juveniles and the rest are youths still under Dept. of Corrections supervision.

Huntley said that as of Wednesday, July 7, his department had yet to receive specific figures regarding pending budget cuts.

“We’re still in the process of evaluating what that“s going to mean for the department and the services and supervision,“ Huntley said.

The state community corrections agency has an “opt out“ clause, he said, which complicates the issue.

“If they cut funding to community corrections beyond a certain service level, then the counties have the option to give the service back to the state to run,“ he said. “The Legislature is very conscious about that opt-out clause. It“s not something the state wants back.“

Huntley said that current projections would call for a $2 million cut for community corrections at the state level. That would result in a 6 percent cut for Josephine County“s department, he said, which would amount to between $170,000 and $175,000.

The state Emergency Board possibly could utilize its funding pools to backfill those cuts if it gets to that point, Huntley said.

But despite that, he added that his agency still is looking at various cost saving measures.

Wilson said that the county juvenile justice department has approximately 31 different revenue contracts, 10 of which are directly related to state funding. For example, she said that a “large revenue source“ for the department is a contract with the state Dept. of Human Services to operate the shelter.

The next state revenue forecast is scheduled for August.

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