Alva Review-Courier -

With the Oklahoma governor ordering mid-year spending cuts for all state agencies, documents presented at the March 28 monthly Department of Corrections meeting held at Bill Johnson Corrections Center in Alva, revealed that total December expenditures were $47,696,189. The January expenditures were $44,061,889, which is a net reduction of $3,634,300.

The greatest savings came from reduction of contract beds saving $2,517,206 and Medical Services, saving $2,800,520. Other savings came in a reduction of community sentencing costs of $14,167, divisional operations saving $343,552, and OCI and agri-services, which were down by $442,284.

Increases did occur in several areas in January including $550,048 in general operations; additional IT costs of $140,224; additional central office costs of $68,140; additional institution costs of $154,626; additional probation and parole expenditures of $24,990, additional costs for community corrections of $55,386 and more inmate program costs of $38,348. The largest increase was in salaries, up $1,451,767.