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Prosecutor details staffing, child‑support returns and rising forensic needs in 2026 budget pitch
Summary
Prosecuting Attorney Vicky Becker told council her office’s 2026 budget requests are driven mainly by personnel costs, with child‑support collections and federally reimbursed activities producing multiple dollars returned to the community; Becker also sought a victim advocate and outlined growing forensic and cell‑phone evidence demands.
Prosecuting Attorney Vicky Becker told Elkhart County Council that most of her 2026 budget increase is for personnel, reflecting salary and benefit adjustments and ongoing recruitment needs.
Becker said the office continues to bring significant outside revenue into the county through child‑support collections and federal reimbursements: “For every dollar spent in my child support budget we are bringing back almost $9 for families in my community,” she said, and when federal reimbursement is included that ratio rises to about $26 per dollar spent. She reported roughly $21 million in child‑support collections for families in recent reporting and said investigator‑led bond and enforcement work produced $757,000 in collections in 2024 and a strong year‑to‑date figure for 2025.
The nut graf: Becker made the fiscal argument that the child‑support program is largely self‑funding and produces net economic benefit to county families, while personnel shortages and specialized workload—criminal prosecutions, probable cause hearings, rising violent juvenile casework, forensic phone downloads and post‑conviction relief petitions—are driving requests for staff and targeted funding.
Becker sought an additional full‑time victim advocate to ensure domestic violence victims consistently have immediate assistance and noted a 19% requested increase in her victim‑assistance budget related to personnel. She also explained the office’s rising need for phone‑download and digital‑evidence capabilities, saying one criminal analyst can spend hundreds of hours on complex cell‑phone extractions and analysis; Becker is seeking an analyst‑oriented hire rather than a courtroom litigator to support those needs and to return a paralegal to trial‑room work.
Becker emphasized she does not plan to rely on asset‑forfeiture funds for baseline operations and said forfeiture receipts are best used for supplementary equipment and training. She also described scheduling and calendar impacts from recent judicial reorganization and new mandatory detention rules, which she said have increased the number of hearings the office must cover and have stretched a comparatively small deputy prosecuting staff.
Ending: Becker closed by thanking council for prior support and said she will present detailed requests and personnel proposals at the Friday session; councilors asked for follow‑up detail on staffing scenarios, forensic tool costs and the child‑support reimbursement math.
