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District attorney asks Fisher County to fund assistant positions as forfeiture accounts dwindle
Summary
The district attorney told commissioners caseloads and digital-evidence demands have risen 30–40% and requested Fisher County contribute to two assistant positions and salary increases while noting forfeiture funds have been used to pay some salaries.
The district attorney (Speaker 6) told the Fisher County commissioners that caseloads across Nolan, Mitchell and Fisher counties have grown about 30–40%, driven in part by increased digital evidence and discovery demands.
Speaker 6 asked Fisher County to contribute its share toward funding two administrative assistant positions and to support salary adjustments to aid retention and recruitment. He estimated the combined salary increase request at roughly $15,000 shared across the three counties and described Fisher County’s portion as the smallest share by population. He also requested support for adding a second or third assistant prosecutor to help manage caseloads; he noted a proposed additional prosecutor salary of about $60,000 shared across the three counties.
On funding, Speaker 6 explained how civil forfeiture funds are handled: after a civil forfeiture hearing, awarded funds are distributed (he described a 70% to DPS / 30% split in some arrangements) and a portion can be used for law-enforcement purposes with commissioners’ approval, but he said those balances have dwindled because some interdiction officers and salaries were paid from forfeiture accounts.
Speaker 6 said the office has had its first seizure in Fisher County during his tenure and described the practical costs of handling modern discovery and video evidence, which increase staff time per case. He asked commissioners to consider a funding contribution and promised to provide precise salary-share numbers to county staff for formal inclusion in the upcoming budget.
