The Lee County Commission convened for its regular meeting
on Monday, Sept. 30. During the meeting, the commission heard a plea to help provide
funding for the Lee County Alternative Sentencing Program. The program, which
is administered by the Lee County Alternative Sentencing Board (ASB), oversees drug
court, veterans court, district court probation, and court referral officers.
The ASB is concerned that a lack of funding will cause an
interruption of services for those in alternative sentencing programs. The ASB
has also projected it won’t be able to provide raises for its employees for the
second year in a row and may have to lay off employees.
The majority of the Alternative Sentencing Program’s funding
comes from fees generated by active caseloads from the Alabama Administrative
Office of Courts. However, the program has lost revenue over the past four
years due to the court system’s slow bounce back after COVID shutdowns.
Additionally, the
City of Auburn started its own Alternative Sentencing Program on Oct. 1.
According to Judge Bill English, that move slashed funding for the county’s
program in half.
Now the ASB is struggling to find funding.
“When COVID hit, some of our sources of funding —they didn’t
necessarily dry up— but they decreased substantially on very short notice,”
Judge Steven Speakman told the commission. Speakman acts as Chairman of the
ASB.
“It had a lasting impact,” he said. “We are just now seeing
it bounce back roughly four years later.”
Speakman added that the board “operated in the black” for
the decade leading up to COVID. Since the pandemic ended, however, the board
has nearly depleted its reserve resources. He said the board is now projected
to “be in the red.”
The commission agreed to provide $67,437.86 in American
Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) revenue replacement funds to the ASB. The federal
government originally introduced revenue replacement funds to help agencies financially
burdened by the pandemic.
In other Business:
The commission approved a renewal for a pavement
preservation and resurfacing project on Lee County Road 159. The project is in
unison with the National Center for Asphalt Technology (NCAT), which is part of
the engineering school at Auburn University. The school has an agreement with
the commission to use CR 159 as a live traffic asphalt testing site. This renewal will allow NCAT to continue
running live traffic tests on the road for the next three years.