Pott. County discusses upcoming Fleet Maintenance Facility open house, potential hit to budget

Pottawatomie County may soon see the amount it owes in Community Corrections fees increase by about $152,000.

Community corrections is a state-mandated probation program that deals specifically with felony offenders.

Pottawatomie County, as part of the 2nd judicial district, which consists of four total counties, contracts through Shawnee County for these services.

Community Corrections recently submitted a budget-increase request to the Shawnee County Commission.

If the request is approved, the 2nd judicial district would be on the hook for an increase of over $400,000 in fees, with Pottawatomie County’s share being the largest.

The commission intends to bring in 2nd Judicial District Chief Judge Jeffery Elder in order to explore its options going forward.

The Pottawatomie County Commission approved Monday the allocation of about $7,500 to the Flint Hills Area Transportation Agency.

Pottawatomie County budgets around $8,000 for ATA Bus services. However, the amount actually given is typically less than that and depends on demand-response ridership.

ATA Bus executive director Anne Smith says ridership decreased during the pandemic, in part due to decreased enrollment at local colleges.

The organization also began implementing reduced services in March 2020.

ATA Bus saw fixed-route ridership drop during the pandemic from around 30,000 to 10,000-15,000.

While the K-18 connector route saw a relatively small decline in ridership, it still fell off by several hundred.