Estimated read time: 2-3 minutes
This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.
Democrats are criticizing the across-the-board budget cuts that came out of last week's special session, especially when it comes to the Department of Corrections.
The cut translated to a loss of almost 40 full-time positions. The Department of Corrections said most of those jobs will be administration positions not corrections officers, and that as many as possible will happen through attrition rather than layoffs.
But that's not all the department will have to cut. It's possible many inmates won't get the treatment they need because sex offender, substance abuse and mental health treatment programs will be scaled back too.
Angie Welling, spokeswoman for the Department of Corrections, said, "The programs will still exist in the large extent. These will just be cuts to specific areas within those programs. We don't want to raise concerns that the programs are gone all together."
Rep. Phil Riesen, D-Salt Lake County, said, "Those programs are needed in the Department of Corrections to help the rate of recidivism go down and to keep them down and to help people who are incarcerated for various offenses to get some help that they need to be productive citizens. So, obviously, losing those programs is going to hurt to a degree."
Riesen also criticized the way the cuts were made. He said, "The process basically eliminated the Democratic Party from the cutting process. We were given a list of what the Republicans had decided even though our objections on the floor and in executive appropriations went nowhere. It was obviously a Republican budget, Republican cuts, go along with it, thank you very much."
Riesen said cuts should have been prioritized by agency. He said transportation should have been cut more than it was, and that the Department of Health, for instance, should have been cut less. "If I had to choose between paving more roads or helping people in need, I'd pick people every time. The priorities just weren't right," Riesen said.
The Department of Health suffered the most severe cuts, especially in the Medicaid budget, which was chopped more than $30 million.
The Department of Human Services lost $11 million of its budget and the Utah Highway Patrol will be forced to eliminate trooper spots as well.
E-mail: corton@ksl.com
