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Harvey County attorney warns of service cuts as office struggles to recruit attorneys
Summary
County Attorney Heather Figger told commissioners the office has been unable to fill a vacancy since September 2024, is losing competitiveness on salary, and may have to prioritize or decline some cases and use expensive contract prosecutors unless the county adjusts compensation or funding.
Harvey County Attorney Heather Figger told the Board of County Commissioners on Aug. 26 that her office has been unable to fill a vacant attorney position since September 2024 and that uncompetitive pay is forcing changes to how the county provides legal services.
Figger said the office’s staffing shortfall is “serious” and noted McPherson County is advertising an attorney job with a $115,000 salary, a level she said Harvey County cannot match without additional funding. She said the county currently has four attorneys covering the workload of five and that continuing the status quo risks losing additional staff.
To cope, Figger said she has met with local police chiefs and the sheriff to prioritize cases, is exploring temporary contract prosecutors (at substantially higher hourly cost), is coordinating with the court on scheduling adjustments, and is reviewing which non‑mandated programs the office may no longer be able to support. She identified drug court and child‑in‑need‑of‑care cases as resource‑intensive programs that could be affected; she noted statutory requirements mean child‑in‑need‑of‑care matters are civil and could be returned to the county counselor’s office but warned that conflicts could force the county to pay for outside counsel.
Figger said retention is also a concern: attorneys are working long nights and weekends comparable to private sector expectations but without comparable pay. She said earlier hiring timelines and the county’s budget calendar complicated recruitment — county budget requests are typically submitted in March, while law graduates and bar licensing timelines do not align with that calendar.
Commissioners discussed options including a targeted pay‑rate study and a possible interim budget action, but they did not change the 2026 budget at the meeting. Figger said she would provide the commissioners a written summary of the steps she is taking and asked the board to consider the issue further; commissioners agreed to discuss it at an upcoming work session but did not adopt immediate changes.
