County calls for more indigent defense funding

Defending indigents could become more costly next year for Columbia County and others in the Augusta Judicial Circuit if state funding isn't continued at its current level, county officials said Tuesday.

Columbia County Commission Chairman Ron Cross, who also leads the general government committee for the Association County Commissioners of Georgia, said Gov. Sonny Perdue has announced he will include about $32 million for indigent defense funding in his initial budget for next year.

Mr. Cross said that's about $11 million less than what is needed to keep state funding to counties' level.

"What he (the governor) has told the Indigent Defense Council is that he will only put in the initial budget the amount of the fines and fees that's been collected so far, and it's a partial year,'' Mr. Cross said. "So that cuts down requests from $43 million to $32 million."

Still, Mr. Cross said the governor didn't rule out the possibility of the state Legislature later adding to that budget figure.

"So, what's got to happen is we've just got to work with our legislators to show them that it's going to put a burden on the county if they don't add that other $11 million in there," Mr. Cross said.

Even then, Columbia County officials say their cost of indigent defense, which will cap at $400,000 from January through the end of this year, could still increase next year.

"We know at a minimum that even if the caseloads don't increase next year that we're going to incur the full cost of the attorneys that were phased in over the course of this year," said Todd Glover, the county's director of management services, referring to personnel in the Augusta Judicial Circuit's public defender's office. "So, at a minimum, next year we're going to incur an increase in the full year's impact of their salaries.''

Mr. Glover estimated the added cost next year of a year-round full staff could be as high as $300,000, a cost to be divvied up by the three counties in the judicial circuit: Columbia, Richmond and Burke counties.

The current setup of how counties pay for indigent defense was spurred on in January by new legislation, which requires representation for indigents accused of a felony or a misdemeanor with a threat of jail time.

It's something county officials say they're paying close attention to because of the cost to them.

"That's our No. 1 priority,'' Mr. Cross said of the commissioner association's general government committee.

"We voted on indigent defense as the No. 1 item we need to work on to get the state to fund 100 percent of it instead of dumping it off on the counties."

Currently, Mr. Glover said, the public defender's office for the Augusta Judicial Circuit is budgeted for eight state-funded and 10 county-funded personnel.

County-funded personnel at the office have been phased in this year, helping Columbia County keep its share of funding this year down to no more than $400,000, he said.

He said the number of state-funded personnel in the defender's office next year, however, could change depending on state funding.

"That's the big question mark," Mr. Glover said.

Reach Preston Sparks at 868-1222, ext. 115, or preston.sparks@augustachronicle.com.