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Board approves increased budgets for public defender and district attorney offices
Summary
The board approved funding increases for the Coweta Circuit Public Defender and the Coweta Circuit District Attorney to cover staff pay adjustments and a part-time prosecutor for misdemeanor court coverage.
The Meriwether County Board of Commissioners on June 24 approved state-agency budget requests to increase funding for indigent defense and prosecution services in the Coweta Circuit.
Rick Samper, the chief public defender, asked the board to increase the public defender allocation by $17,008.36 to raise two local staff salaries that he said were below peer counties. "My administrative assistant down here is also a resident here in Meriwether County. Both of their salaries are way under comparably to the other people in our system," Samper said. The board voted to approve the requested increase.
The district attorney requested an increase to cover a contract part-time prosecutor to handle misdemeanors in probate court. The DA told the board the county previously funded a contract prosecutor at $40,000 beginning in 2018; the replacement attorney the DA has identified requires higher hourly pay. The DA asked for an additional $25,005.20 (the figure recorded in the meeting packet) to cover the new contract ceiling (roughly $65,520 maximum under the proposed hourly and annual cap). The board approved the DA’s requested increase, and the DA thanked commissioners for the office relocation work that provided space for staff outside the courthouse.
Both actions were approved by voice vote. No roll-call tallies were recorded in the minutes.
