The Community Corrections Partnership has been receiving frequent updates regarding discussions at the State level around establishing a multi-year formula for the distribution of AB109 Community Corrections sub-account allocation to counties. This process has been completed with the Realignment Allocation Committee (RAC) making its final recommendations to the California Department of Finance (DOF). The recommended formula resulted in a significant reduction in Base allocation funding to Contra Costa County beginning in fiscal year 2014/15. A summary of past funding can be found in Attachment A for reference.
FY 2016/17 Base Allocation
Recall that the Community Corrections allocation is composed of a Base allocation and a Growth allocation. The Base allocation is derived from current year funding, and the current year Growth allocation is derived from prior year actual funding from the State. By the nature of this arrangement, Growth has been observed to be more volatile than the Base allocation due to varying economic factors, which have also been compounded by the uncertainty surrounding the final statewide allocation formula.
Beginning in fiscal year 2014/15, the CCP Ongoing budget allocations have been in excess of the Base allocations from the State. In fiscal year 2016/17, the Base allocation for Contra Costa County is estimated to increase from the fiscal year 2015/16 amount of $20,831,204 to $21,848,491, which is still below the high of $22,854,832 in fiscal year 2013/14 when the majority of current programs were funded. Although this is positive year-over-year progress, the County allocation still has not recovered fully from the negative impacts of the formula reallocation.
FY 2015/16 Growth Allocation (distributed in FY 2016/17)
Growth allocations have historically been difficult to predict and a moving target depending on revenue estimates from the State at any given point during the year. In addition, the RAC has made recommendations to allocate growth using different funding formulas in 2013/14, 2014/15 and 2015/16. Beginning with the fiscal year 2015/16 Growth allocation (paid in fiscal year 2016/17), and for several years into the future, the formula has been based on the following:
1. SB 678 Success – 80%
- SB 678 success rate (60%) – all counties
- SB 678 year-over-year improvement (20%) – only those counties showing improvement
2. Incarceration rates – 20%
- County’s reduction in year-over-year second strike admission (fixed dollar amount per number reduced)
- County’s reduction in year-over-year overall new prison admission (10%)
- County’s success measured by per-capita rate of prison admissions (10%)
Contra Costa County has been a leader in the majority of the above metrics and, as predicted, benefited little from new, permanent formula. More discussion on the fiscal year 2015/16 Growth allocation received can be found in the Fiscal impact section of this report. The good news is that this reduction was anticipated and the CCP has not based its budget recommendations to the Board of Supervisors relying on Growth funds in prior years.
FY 2017/18 Recommendation from the CCP - Executive Committee
On January 13, 2017 the CCP convened to begin deliberations on a FY 2017/18 budget recommendation for submission to the Public Protection Committee. Staff provided a report introducing the item, which in part recommended authorizing a minimum increase of 4% in recognition of increased cost of doing business and several years of "status quo" budgets. This recommendation included not only County departments, but also the Superior Court, Police Chief's Association and Community Advisory Board allocations.
Following presentations by agencies submitting budget proposals and public comment, the CCP Executive Committee voted to fund:
1. All requested increases existing programs;
2. All requests for new funding to establish new programs or expand existing programs, with the exception of a new Veteran's Court program requested by the Superior Court; and
3. Authorized a minimum increase of 4% to all departments or agencies (including, CAB, CCC Police Chief's Association and Superior Court)
A summary of the CCP Recommended budget is summarized in Attachment F. As proposed, the CCP Recommended Budget would increase expenditure appropriations by $1,727,579, from $23,684,570 to $25,412,149.The Governor's Proposed Budget includes an estimated increase to the County's Base allocation of $1,111,655, from $21,848,491 to $22,960,146. This figure will likely change in the May Revision and Enacted Budgets.
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