GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. (KREX) — The state Joint Budget Committee (JBC) scheduled a meeting Friday to come to a decision on the future of the Rifle and Delta Correctional facilities.
Talk about a possible closure of the facilities was discussed back in January, first with the Rifle facility then Delta.
The committee faced push back from state lawmakers, saying the economic impact of the facilities' closure would take upwards of 10 years to recover from.
State Rep. Matt Soper (R-54) was one of the lawmakers pushing back against the possible closure.
Soper talked with WesternSlopeNow about the potential for economic fallout and the repercussions it would have had on the economy.
"Total economic impact of Delta was $31.9 million. Almost $32 million in economic impact to the Delta community alone. So, if that would have been closed... this would have been like the closing of a coal mine, which is what happened about a decade ago in Delta County. We are still recovering from that."
Delta and Rifle Correctional are both level 1 security prisons that houses offenders who commit lower level crimes.
The committee will be reducing the budget of Delta's Correctional Facility by about $153,000.