WALSENBURG, Colo.—The private company that runs the Huerfano County Correctional Center says the prison will officially close April 2, leaving Walsenburg without one of its major employers.
Corrections Corporation of America announced in January that about 700 Arizona inmates would be leaving the prison in this southern Colorado town of about 4,000 people. This week, the company announced the prison’s official closing date.
Officials are still looking for new clients for the prison. It employs 188 people, some of whom will transfer to other prisons, prison spokesman Allan Cramer said.
The last inmates will be gone by March 22, Cramer said.
The closure means Walsenburg could lose between $250,000 and $300,000 in utility sales to the prison, concessions and sales taxes at a time when the town has a budget shortfall of about $300,000, City Administrator Alan Hein said. The town already has laid off 10 people.
“We have to restructure our operations to try and accommodate this loss. It’s pretty serious when you drop that much on your revenue side in a budget the size that we have,” Hein said.
The town is trying to restructure the police department to make it more efficient, Hein said. In a worst-case scenario, the town could have to lay off four more employees, Hein said.
A county fund also will suffer. By contract, the county receives 50 cents per prisoner per day that goes directly into a fund that has helped pay for new sheriff’s department vehicles, youth programs and utilities bills for the historic Fox Theater, Huerfano County Administrator John Galusha said.
Revenue generated from the fund is about $130,000 a year, he said.
“Without that revenue coming in, some of the things from the prison authority will take a hit next year,” Galusha said.
He said the county will use reserves from the prison to fund the Fox Theater through the end of the year.
The town will lose six more jobs when Duckwalls Variety Store closes March 15. Store manager Kirk Riley said the store isn’t making enough money to keep the lease.
“Our community is struggling to find a solution to our employment picture, even before the closure of the prison,” Mayor Bruce Quintana said.
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Information from: The Pueblo Chieftain,
