New pay plan benefits correction agencies

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The overhaul of the state’s pay plan for about 25,000 of its employees has proved problematic for the Arkansas Department of Community Correction says the Board of Corrections chairman Benny Magness of Gassville. In the long run, the new pay plan will be a boost to a state agency that has long been challenged to attract and maintain qualilty employees. But in the short term, it has forced the agency to seek creative ways to meet its budget for the upcoming fiscal year.

Among the programs and services of the Department of Community Correction are probation and parole, specialty courts like drug court, and six community correction centers across Arkansas.

Magness says approval was gained Wednesday to pursue utilizing carryover General Improvement Funds to cover the cost of implementing the new pay plan at the Department of Community Correction. While the green light was given to pursue using the GIF dollars, there remains a legal question to answer before final approval is given.

Without being able to utlize the carryover GIF dollars, Mangness says there were three options being considered.


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Magness says funding for the reentry beds has been a hallmark of the agency’s efforts to reduce the prison population.

While Commmunity Correction officials were aware the state was developing a new pay plan, until
it was completed and the price of implementation was available, state agencies did not know the amount of funding needed for the upcoming fiscal year.


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While it appears budget issues with Community Correction have been resolved, Magness says the focus now shifts to challenges in the budget of the Department of Correction, commonly referred to as the prison budget.

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