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County attorney urges board to consider higher salary and staffing to maintain prosecutions and collections
Summary
Osceola County’s interim county attorney briefed supervisors on staffing needs, recommending consideration of a higher salary for the incoming county attorney to attract candidates and suggesting investment in a fine-collection/victim-witness role to increase recovered revenue and support prosecutions.
The Osceola County interim county attorney addressed the board at length about the county attorney’s office budget, staffing and strategy for collecting fines. The attorney said hiring and retaining experienced staff — including a legal assistant who has taken on large responsibilities — is critical to maintaining prosecution capacity and collecting fines that can support county operations.
The county attorney recommended the board consider increasing the salary offer for the county attorney position beyond a standard percentage raise to remain competitive with neighboring counties. The attorney cited examples in nearby counties where county attorney pay was substantially higher (examples given from adjacent counties) and said that attracting a qualified candidate could take time; Lyon County took six months in a recent search, he said. The board was reminded that the compensation set at this time will establish the salary for any candidate hired before July 1.
The attorney also urged the board to explore hiring a part-time or full-time fine collector and/or victim-witness coordinator — potentially funded in part by grants such as Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) resources — to increase fine collections and victim services. The office’s limited staff time was identified as a reason collections have declined; the attorney said a dedicated fine-collection position in a nearby county collected nearly $1 million over several years and that the county receives a portion of collected fines that can be used for law-enforcement related purposes.
The board discussed compensation-board timing, moving expenses, benefits budgeting and whether county attorney candidates or part-time arrangements must be county residents. No formal changes to compensation were adopted at this meeting; the attorney suggested the board set a salary that would be competitive in the region and consider other recruitment incentives.
The attorney also recommended reviewing the county attorney incentive fund (reported in the meeting as $1,600,845 as of June 30) to determine permissible uses for recruitment or retention, but said he would research legal constraints before proposing use of those funds for compensation.
