County attorney seeks boost to contract services amid multiple large cases

The county attorney told commissioners that while salary requests are minimal this year, contract-service expenses may need a sizable increase to cover prosecution-related costs. "One of the things I didn't know if you had thought about in here as far as the wages, salary, Medicare, Medicaid..." the county attorney said when outlining cost factors, and later recommended raising contract services toward $150,000 to account for outside prosecutors and witness travel for several major cases.

Officials said past budget cycles cut contract-service requests to balance the budget, but this year the office is budgeting for the possibility of trials that will require substantial travel and witness expenses. The county attorney estimated jury selection for a major homicide could take about three days and suggested that witness and expert costs could materially increase the prosecution budget. Commissioners did not take a formal vote on the request during the hearing and directed staff to incorporate the figures into revised projections for the preliminary budget.