While overall funding for realignment services went up in the budget recently signed into law, funding for 12 counties was received a smaller increase than others. One of the affected counties was Fresno.
The funding reduction resulted partly from the formula used to allocate resources. Counties with more intensive rehabilitation programs received more money than those that simply incarcerate criminals. In places like the Central Valley, where a large number of offenders are sent to state prisons, they are receiving a lions share of the realigned prisoners, but less of the realignment money.
Responsibility for allocating the money does not actually fall to the State. Instead, it is handed off to a group of County Administrators, with the intention that the group of county officials would have a greater understanding of how and where the money should be used. In this case, the Central Valley lost in the equation.
From the Fresno Bee:
Gov. Jerry Brown has said he understands the challenges of law enforcement in the Valley. He even visited Fresno last year to discuss his policy of realigning state prisoners to local jails and probation oversight.
But last month, the governor signed off on a state budget that includes proportionately less realignment funding for the Valley than last year. Other parts of the state got more.
What Valley leaders got from the governor, in person or over the phone, were condolences and a pledge to keep an eye on the issue, according to local law enforcement officials.
Read the full article here.