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State's attorneys say victim advocates handle up to 600 cases each; request six more positions and operating funds
Summary
Department testimony to the House Appropriations Committee said victim advocates now manage roughly 600 cases each, with the department requesting six additional advocates and $38,000 in operating funds; vacancy savings and limited operating budgets are constraining services.
Montpelier — The Department of State's Attorneys and Sheriffs told the House Appropriations Committee on Feb. 13 that victim advocates are managing caseloads far larger than individual prosecutors and that the department is seeking additional positions and operating funds to meet needs.
“For our victim advocates, they are handling 600 cases,” Annie Noonan, director for finance for the department, told the committee. Noonan described how victim advocates cover multiple prosecutors’ caseloads: for example, a Washington County office with seven prosecutors might have two victim advocates, who together handle victims flowing from all seven attorneys’ cases.
Noonan said the department currently counts more than 23,000 pending criminal cases systemwide; victim advocates are asked to help victims with court explanations, compensation and restitution applications, and referrals to services. The department asked the committee for six additional victim advocate positions, which Noonan estimated at roughly $125,000 per position (salary and benefits), or about $750,000 in total, and she said the FY26 budget adjustment included a $38,000 operating request that had been approved in the current version of the agency adjustment.
The department also reported a required vacancy savings number for the victim advocate budget of about $270,000 for FY26, which Noonan said would translate into holding roughly two victim advocate positions vacant. That hold exacerbates workloads, she said. Noonan told the committee that when positions first transferred from federal VOCA funding to a state general fund appropriation, the money largely covered salaries and benefits but left little operating funding for program needs.
No formal action was taken; the requests will be considered as part of FY26 budget negotiations.
