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Prosecutor asks county to reallocate vacant salary to hire victim advocate; commission approves
Summary
Prosecuting Attorney Joe Kendra told commissioners his office is short staffed and recommended reallocating roughly two-thirds of one vacant assistant-prosecutor salary to hire an additional victim advocate now; the commission approved the budget-neutral plan.
Prosecuting Attorney Joe Kendra asked the Berkeley County Commission on Jan. 23 to approve a budget-neutral reallocation that would fund a second victim advocate in his office by using about two-thirds of the salary of a currently vacant assistant-prosecutor position.
Kendra told commissioners his office charged 785 felony and 9,604 misdemeanor cases last year and that nearly half of felony cases involve victims. He said the office currently has one victim-advocate, Cora Rutherford, who is responsible for contacting victims, preparing them for hearings and trials, and maintaining case-related communications.
"Cora is a saint," Kendra said, describing the workload on one advocate as unsustainable given the prosecutor vacancies. Kendra outlined a plan to use existing vacant-position salary dollars to hire a victim advocate now, then reassess later in the year if additional prosecuting-attorney candidates become available and the county chooses to refill the prosecutor positions.
Commissioners discussed the proposal and noted potential budget-neutral benefits including reduced jail costs from faster case resolution. A commissioner moved to honor Kendra’s request; the motion passed by unanimous voice vote.
The commission directed staff to tag the contingency account in next fiscal-year planning to reflect the temporary reallocation and requested follow-up reporting when hiring and caseload impacts are known.
