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Committee amends ordinance to add victim coordinator line item, forwards ordinance 25-25 to full court
Summary
The Personnel Committee amended proposed ordinance 25-25 to add a victim coordinator position for the prosecuting attorney's office and forwarded the ordinance to the full court; funding will be addressed in next year’s budget process.
The Faulkner County Personnel Committee amended proposed ordinance 25-25 to create a permanent victim services position in the prosecuting attorney’s office and forwarded the ordinance to the full court for inclusion on the agenda.
Prosecuting Attorney Miss Cruz told the committee that her office has lost several victim services positions in recent years after cuts to VOCA (Victims of Crime Act) federal grant funding. "We have really over the last 5 or 6 years sustained a lot of VOCA, victim of crimes, federal grant funding cuts over the years, and I have lost several positions in victim services," Miss Cruz said. She said the office still has remaining federal funds from a governor-released rescue plan and is not asking for immediate new county money: "I don't need funding right now. I have some funding left over."
Miss Cruz asked the committee to create a job classification and line item so the position can be funded through the county budget process next year. She said the salary for the position was previously described in an earlier letter as roughly "$43 and some change" plus benefits and that the new position would match existing victim services classifications in the office. During committee discussion, a member asked whether the position's salary was listed in the budget book; county staff confirmed the line is at page 53, budget code 42328 for a victim coordinator.
The committee voted to amend the ordinance to include the victim coordinator line and then forwarded the amended ordinance to the full court. Committee members recorded the motion and the chair said, "All those in favor, please say aye. Aye. Ayes have it." The ordinance will return to the full court, and any funding allocation will be addressed through the county's budget process next year.
Miss Cruz also said the county remains engaged with the state prosecutors' association to pursue a legislative solution; she described the work as an effort to secure state funding for victim services but noted a bill had been filed and was not advanced this session.
No roll-call vote counts were recorded in the committee transcript.
