Justice & Public Safety FY2009-10 Budget Recap

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FY 2009-10 Budgeted Appropriation: $2.21 billion
FY 2008-09 Estimated Actual Spending: $2.11 billion

With help in part from $24 million of federal funds, this year’s JPS expenditures will be slightly higher than last year’s estimated actual spending. The most significant budgetary changes occur in corrections, with 187 – mostly vacant – positions being eliminated and seven prisons being closed.

Judicial

• 47 vacant positions in administration and courthouses statewide to be cut.
• Freeze the step salary increase for magistrates and clerks saving $2,324,864.
• Save a total of $672,000 by eliminating funding for annual travel allowances for each Superior Court Judge.

Judicial- Indigent Defense

• Funding for the Center for Death Penalty Litigation contract is reduced by 5 percent.
• Three vacant positions in the Public Defender office are eliminated.

Justice

• Eliminate 48 agency positions, vacant and filled, department-wide saving a total of $2,562,782.

Juvenile Justice and Delinquency

• Seven administration positions to be eliminated in the general office.
• Eliminate funding for the Center for the Prevention of School Violence (CPSV) which would eliminate six jobs and save $481,000. CPSV serves as a resource center for efforts that promote safer schools and foster positive youth development.
• 25 additional department-wide vacant positions to be eliminated.
• Use $1.5 million from the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act to create 12 new court counselors and two new supervisors.
• Close two of the seven Eckerd Wilderness Camps across the state saving $2,768,714. The North Carolina Eckerd Wilderness Camps helps boys and girls, ages 10 through 17, with behavioral problems by providing a therapeutic alternative to more restrictive programs.
• 19 vacant Youth Development Center Positions are to be eliminated saving $948,994.

Correction

• 100 vacant positions within the Department of Correction to be eliminated.
• 87 other vacant and filled positions throughout the Department of Corrections to be eliminated totaling $4,369,668 in savings.
• $1,383,273 spent to fund an additional 18 Chief Probation Parole Officer positions creating a 7:1 ratio between supervisors and field officer.
• Seven underutilized prisons are to be closed during FY 2009-10: McCain Correctional Hospital, Umstead Correctional Center, Guilford Correctional Center, Wilmington Residential Facility for Women, Gates Correctional Center, Union Correctional Center, and Cleveland Correctional Center.