LETTER TO THE EDITOR, Carolyn Huddleston, Liberal
Well, friends, I wanted to share a bit more about that bonus money going to staff of Cimarron Basin Community Corrections. As I said in my last letter, the staff there received bonuses in four of the last five years, and they totaled $80,000.
Where did this money come from? According to April Warden, the Seward County Administrator, it came from program fees and alcohol and drug test fees. So if you had to pay supervision fees there, if you attended an alcohol and drug treatment group or paid for some other class at Cimarron Basin Community Corrections, or if you took an alcohol or drug test there and paid a fee, YOU were making a contribution to these staff bonuses.
One reason this bothers me is that it seems like the staff are getting paid twice for doing their jobs. A KDOC grant pays them to supervise people on probation, to offer programs that can be beneficial to them, and do drug and alcohol testing as needed. But then on top of their salary/wages, they have been taking the money people paid specifically for supervision, classes or alcohol and drug test(s). Aren’t they collecting a second time for performing the duties of their jobs?
Other possible uses for this money include purchasing educational videos and other materials for programs, buying computer equipment, software, other office equipment, office furniture, and even purchasing a vehicle. Spending it on something like this, they don’t have to ask KDOC for as much, which benefits us, the tax payers.
So friends, if you don’t like what’s been going on, you know what to do. It’s your commissioners who have been approving these bonuses, and they obviously aren’t going to quit doing so unless they get a clear message that this is unacceptable to a large number of their constituents.
