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State’s Attorney asks for more assistant prosecutors as caseload pressures mount
Summary
The state’s attorney’s office told the board it will seek additional assistant state’s attorney positions to cover attrition and trial workload; members pressed for caseload statistics and ways to track resource use, and the office said annual caseload figures exist though it does not track attorney-level billable hours.
The Will County State’s Attorney’s Office informed the board that it expects to request additional assistant state’s attorney (ASA) positions as attrition and courtroom demand create staffing shortfalls. The office said some funding is already budgeted for positions and that it will request more FTEs to finish a gradual rollout of staffing added since the safety‑act implementation.
Office leadership said they are also exploring dedicated trial‑prep rooms in newly occupied courthouse space to consolidate prep work and support trial teams. The finance director for the office added that some positions are already budgeted and that the office will present specifics as they prepare the budget packet.
Board members sought stronger accountability metrics for additional staffing, asking whether the office can show hours worked or case‑level costs. The State’s Attorney’s Office said it produces annual caseload statistics and can break out case counts by category, but it does not track attorney billable hours in a billing‑style model; officials argued that government prosecution work does not lend itself to hour‑by‑hour billing like a private law firm and that caseload and courtroom flow are the better metrics.
Members requested the existing caseload reports and any materials used previously to justify staffing increases so they can evaluate the ASA request during budget deliberations.
