Davis County prosecutors, defenders and courts say proposed budget cuts would strain statutory duties and slow cases

Davis County Attorney Troy, judges and court staff, public defenders and pretrial officials told the county Budget Committee that hypothetical midyear cuts would sharply reduce capacity across the criminal justice system and could force the county to decline many enhanced misdemeanor and felony cases and send them back to city prosecutors.

The warning came during a multi-hour budget 'stress test' in which department heads answered questions about hypothetical percentage reductions. County Attorney Troy said his office faces multiple statutory "shalls" and timeline mandates that require timely filings; he proposed personnel targets of roughly $264,000 for the attorney budget and noted a separate victim-services target of about $300,000, part of an aggregate ~$440,000 personnel target the office used in its analysis.

Why it matters: Troy told commissioners that the office lacks discretionary cuts large enough to meet those targets without eliminating staff, and that court-mandated deadlines (including a four-day filing rule he described as recurring) mean fewer, less-experienced attorneys or lost support staff would make it harder to meet legal deadlines and could result in people being released for procedural reasons. "If we cut staff," Troy said, "we will push cases out of the cities" — meaning many felony-level matters that are enhanced by priors or other factors would be declined and sent back to municipal prosecutors, who "may prosecute" under state code but are not required to. Troy warned this could lead to fewer felony filings and lighter penalties in many cases.

Support from other justice partners: Todd Odzinger, representing the legal defenders, told the committee his office is already lean (about $4.1 million annual budget) and that a proposed $320,000 cut (roughly 7.7%) would almost certainly require personnel reductions. "We can't cut it," Odzinger said. "Any reduction in our budget necessarily is gonna have to come through some form of personnel cut." He noted that defender offices are bound by the state and federal constitutions and court rules to provide counsel, and that turnover or changes in counsel delay trials and can increase costs for both the county and people in custody.

Justice court staff emphasized service volumes and separation-of-duty rules: Judge Nchowski and court staff described mandatory staffing and business processes — the court reported receiving 57,627 phone calls in 2024 (about 4,802 per month, roughly 218 per day), and said routine tasks such as mail handling and cash reconciliation require multiple clerks. Court staff warned that even small cuts would reduce training, slow service and increase public wait times.

Pretrial services cautioned about indirect effects: Johnny Blackmon of pretrial services said the unit itself faced no direct reduction in the hypothetical exercise but warned that partner cuts would force pretrial to prioritize high-risk defendants and leave lower-risk people with fewer supervision resources. He highlighted statutory screening duties (citing state statute on information collection) and estimated the day-to-day marginal cost of a pretrial supervision placement as modest (a figure cited during the presentation was about $3.64 per person per day), but said loss of personnel would create waiting lists and delay judicial decisions about release.

What the department heads asked for: Across the presentations, leaders urged the Budget Committee to consider alternatives to staffing cuts, including phased adjustments, shifting non-core supplies to user departments, protecting statutory compliance roles, and weighing revenue options. Troy and others also said failing to maintain staff would produce downstream consequences: delayed filings, fewer prosecutions of enhanced felonies, reduced victim services and longer case processing times.

What's next: Committee members set a follow-up budget session for July 30 to review the stress-test findings and begin targeted planning. Several commissioners acknowledged the possibility of a tax increase to sustain services; one commissioner mentioned an illustrative 6% figure while noting uncertainty.

Closing note: Officials framed the exercise as hypothetical but urged swift follow-up, saying the stress test identified concrete statutory and service risks that they recommended the commission address before any cuts are finalized.