Questions about public defender pay, staffing for judges delay Washington County budget vote

FAYETTEVILLE -- Questions about public defender pay and staffing for the county's two juvenile court judges led Washington County justices of the peace Thursday to table action on the county's 2022 budget for at least another month.

The Quorum Court voted 9-6 in favor of a motion to table approval of the budget. Suki Highers, justice of the peace for District 11, made the motion to table consideration of the budget after an earlier motion to amend the budget had failed. Highers said the Quorum Court needs to discuss the issues before voting on the budget.

"I'm still not comfortable with the Division III and Division VIII situation," Highers said referring to the county's two juvenile courts. "I'm not trying to be obstructionist. I'm not trying to delay. I just want to do it right."

The justices of the peace spent much of Thursday's meeting discussing the appropriate staffing levels for the two juvenile courts.

The Quorum Court's Finance & Budget Committee last week recommended changes in the staffing requests for the county's two juvenile courts. The committee recommended transferring five employees from Judge Stacey Zimmerman's Division III court staff to the new staff for Judge Diane Warren in Division VIII. Four new positions were also allotted for Warren's staff. The state approved the creation of a second juvenile court for Washington County, and Warren was elected to the position in 2020. She began serving in January.

Warren told the justices of the peace on Thursday her original request was to have the two courts equally funded for the work they have in common. Her request would have given her 11 employees.

Zimmerman pointed out that her court has and will administer several programs aimed at diverting youth offenders away from the criminal justice system. Those programs require separate staffing, she said.

"That is why there is a difference in the amount of money requested," Zimmerman said.

The budget proposal blocked by justices of the peace on Thursday also did not include equal pay for the county's public defenders and prosecuting attorneys.

In July, Public Defender Denny Hyslip said in a letter to the Finance & Budget Committee that within the last year one attorney moved from the public defender's office to the prosecutor's office for more pay. Two other attorneys left for different jobs with more pay. In his letter, Hyslip listed one chief deputy public defender and 15 deputy public defenders on his staff.

"The loss of three attorneys within a year places the office in a continuous state of fluctuation," Hyslip wrote.

The Public Defender's Office also cited the county's Criminal Justice System Assessment's review of the discrepancies in pay.

According to the assessment a lack of parity in pay between prosecution and public defense "creates a revolving door for public defense as attorneys look to do similar work for higher pay often with more resources."

The budget proposal discussed Thursday includes raises for county employees. The justices of the peace have discussed moving the pay ranges for county positions upward by 10%. The pay scales for the county have been set in their current ranges since 2016. The justices of the peace have discussed raises for employees of up to 3.5% and have also discussed providing for merit raises.

The budget proposal also included an ordinance raising pay for county elected officials to the maximum allowed by state law. The state sets ranges for each class of county, with Washington County being a class 7 county along with Benton and Pulaski counties. The maximum pay for county judges and sheriffs in class 7 counties is $137,349. The maximum pay for county treasurer, clerk, collector, assessor, coroner and circuit clerk is $129,293. Raising all of the county's elected officials to the maximum pay would cost the county just over $1 million each year, about $40,000 more than it pays for their salaries now.