Commissioners endorse tiered weekend pay for DA exempt staff; HR to finalize coding

Arapahoe County’s Human Resources and the District Attorney’s office requested a revision to weekend-court compensation for exempt DA employees. Under the proposed structure, supervising investigations and victim-witness supervisors would continue to receive $500 for weekend duty; prosecutors who handle a full solo caseload on weekend assignments would be eligible for a $750 tier; when two staff share coverage the compensation would be split accordingly.

HR staff (Dusty) estimated the 2026 fiscal impact of the change at approximately $18,000; staff said roughly 30% of that amount is reimbursable through existing grant funding and the DA’s budget can absorb the remainder. Commissioners asked for comparative data from peer jurisdictions (for example Denver) and for HR to take the time needed to code the new tiers properly; staff said coding cannot be completed before the end of the year and implementation would wait until administrative systems are ready.

Commissioners signaled support for the change and encouraged HR to proceed carefully on coding and peer benchmarking. Staff will survey comparable jurisdictions, finalize pay-code changes, and return with implementation timing and any additional budget requests if necessary.