The State's Attorney told the Union County Board of Commissioners that his office needs additional staff and contingency funding to manage rising caseloads and increased pretrial workload.

"We are spread too thin," the State's Attorney said, and requested that the county fund a second assistant state's attorney at a salary of about $80,000. He said changes in speedy-trial rules have shortened timelines and increased the time prosecutors must spend in live court on pretrial issues, reducing time available to prepare cases for trial.

The prosecutor cited year-over-year increases in filings during the current budget period: he said criminal felony filings were about 150 in 2024 and that the office is at 160 so far this year; he said misdemeanor and traffic filings also have increased. He said the office had difficulty recruiting at lower salary levels and that comparable offices are offering salaries in the $80,000 to 100,000 range for similar roles.

He also asked the board to set aside approximately $15,000 as a contingency to preserve victim-advocate services in case federal grant funding is reduced. A judge and county staff explained the role of victim advocates extends beyond paperwork to helping victims access shelters, complete orders of protection and communicate with court staff.

No formal hiring decision or appropriation was made at the meeting; the board will consider the request during the budget process.

Provenance:
- topicintro: transcript block 2662.18 ("So the big blue Highway Park building is going down. They move out of. We're having it taken down, and then this would be the money to the the asphalt that area so that it could be part of it. Yeah. Which I think would be really helpful because there's lots of times we need more.")
- topicfinish: transcript block 3717.04 ("Any other weapon? The second thing that the state's attorney's office has asked for is, for $15,000 to 33 possibilities. I don't talk about they lost 1 victim that we could bring out our grant that was called BCBA, and we currently have")