Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the County Attorney Budget topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
County Attorney seeks modest FY27 budget increase, requests AI legal‑research subscription
Summary
The County Attorney’s Office requested a $581,250 (5.4%) increase for FY27 mainly for compensation adjustments and a $21,938 legal research subscription (an AI‑powered document search tool) to improve file access; County Attorney John Markovs emphasized continued affirmative litigation, including opioid and PFAS suits.
Council staff (S3) summarized the County Attorney Office’s FY27 request and told the committee the executive recommends a $581,250 increase (5.4%) primarily for compensation adjustments ($463,919) plus smaller items (print/mail, $20,000) and a $21,938 legal research subscription. The staff presentation described the subscription as an AI‑powered document search tool to improve access to the office’s document repository; staff placed that item on the reconciliation list (MODIS 23172).
County Attorney John Markovs (S4) told the committee: "Our continued partnership with the Council and supporting your policies is the number 1 goal of the County Attorney's Office," and described several active affirmative litigations, saying: "we're collecting in the next 10 years $68,000,000 from my efforts to join the opioid litigation..." Markovs also argued the office’s OBET racial equity score did not reflect the office’s long‑standing equity work and highlighted internal diversity and staffing levels (about 80 FTEs: ~52 lawyers, ~30 support staff). The committee accepted the recommendation to add the legal research subscription to the reconciliation list for later consideration.
