Residents, officials press Skagit County to boost public defense funding as caseload limits change

At the July 29 Skagit County Board of County Commissioners meeting, a resident and county officials urged the board to increase funding for the county public defender’s office ahead of a scheduled statewide reduction in public defender caseload limits.

Rebecca Peck, a member of the public, told commissioners that “The right to legal counsel is a core American principle” and traced the right to counsel through U.S. history and recent litigation. Peck cited a 2013 American Civil Liberties Union lawsuit over mounting caseloads in Mount Vernon and Burlington as an example of how excessive workloads can deprive indigent defendants of effective counsel.

The comments came as commissioners discussed county budget figures. A commissioner reported the Skagit County 2025 budget for the public defender’s office at $5,984,000 and said the prosecutor’s office is budgeted at $6,700,000. The commissioner noted the prosecutor’s office received about $722,000 more than the public defender’s office in 2025 and said counties are pressing the state to cover a larger share of public defense costs: “the state needs to pair pay a much greater percentage, and we've requested 50% of the cost of public defense needs to be paid.”

Why it matters: Washington state is scheduled to phase in lower caseload limits beginning Jan. 1, with a target of 120 cases per defender over 10 years, and local officials said counties currently shoulder a large portion of the cost of indigent defense. Commissioners and commenters said inadequate funding can slow cases and undermine the Sixth Amendment guarantee of counsel.

Commissioners and commenters discussed several related points: the county’s prosecutor’s office includes civil functions that make direct dollar-to-dollar comparisons with the public defender’s office imperfect; the county uses an office of assigned counsel when conflicts require outside representation; and county officials have asked the state to assume a greater share of public defense costs. A commissioner said a recent court ruling found the Washington State Association of Counties has standing in litigation over funding and that the case will continue through the courts.

Speakers at the meeting included public commenters and county officials who stressed the constitutional stakes. Jerry Chavez (public defender) and Rich Wyrick (prosecutor) were named by a commissioner as officials watching the litigation and capacity issues, though the transcript did not record remarks directly from them during the July 29 meeting.

Ending: Commissioners acknowledged the issue and described it as ongoing; no formal vote or directive to change the 2025 budget was recorded in the meeting minutes on July 29.