Funding pursued for public defenders
As state reimbursement rates rise, pandemic complicates the math.
Efforts continue to get full state reimbursement for public defenders, and Gov. Mike DeWine has included 96% payback for the first year of the proposed budget, but the coronavirus makes figuring Butler County’s savings difficult.
The Butler County Public Defenders office budgeted $2.1 million for this year and 87% state reimbursement or $1.88 million. DeWine plugged 96% reimbursement in his biennium budget for fiscal year 2022 which begins later this year and 94% the following year.
The budget bill is now under consideration in the House Finance Committee and the allocations are set at $125 million each year. The County Commissioners Association of Ohio is pushing for full reimbursement for counties, which would be a total of $133.1 million statewide in the first year and $134.1 million the second year.
“Indigent defense is a constitutional obligation of the state; the state has asked the counties
to do its job for them and then is providing us reimbursement,” CCAO Assistant Director John Leutz told the Journal-News. “Our argument is we’re doing something that’s your responsibility, you ought to reimburse us 100% of what we’re doing to help you.”
In the previous budget, DeWine and the general assembly added $154 million for expanded reimbursement, $59 million last fiscal year and $95 million through the first portion of this year. The reimbursement rate to counties increased 42% to around 70% in 2019 and was expected to go to 90% last July.
Butler County Public Defender Michael Weisbrod said in his budget memo they received 85% reimbursement from December 2019 though last April, then the coronavirus hit and the number dropped to 70%.
Jill Cole, accounting manager for the auditor’s office said they received $2.6 million from the state last year, but reimbursements lag several months after services are rendered so there is likely spill-over from the previous year.
The public defenders are part-time salaried attorneys who also maintain private practices. The 40-some attorneys earn between $28,852 to $42,000, according to county budget documents.
Jack Grove, chairman of the public defender commission, said the virus has impacted the office in many other ways. Given the expected beefed up state funding and overworked public defenders, the office asked the commissioners to approve seven part-time public defenders and five fulltime support staff in the 2020 budget. The approved budget included four additional part-time public defenders and one full-time staffer.
Grove said the staffer was needed to be compliant with a new state mandated computer program that was never implemented, plus case loads dropped off significantly, so none of the new hires happened.
“The case volume is down significantly so we did not add staff, we try to be very fiscally responsible,” Grove said. “We’re anticipating when things normalize that there will be an uptick but that hasn’t been the case.”
The Butler County Clerk of Courts office records show criminal cases dropped 20% last year from 2,061 in 2019 to 1,645 last year.
Leutz said they are hopeful the increased reimbursement will survive the state budget process.
“The governor’s budget as introduced is a very good start,” Leutz said. “The odds are better of it passing with it being in the governor’s budget as introduced than needing to get it in an amendment from either the House or the Senate, so we’re very optimistic.”
Grove said the increased reimbursement would be nice but funding can be fickle.
“What the state giveth the state can take away,” Grove said. “I don’t mean to be cynical but I’ve been around too long. The problem is they tell us we have to comply with all their extra requirements and sometimes it’s a state mandate but they don’t give you extra money to comply with the mandate.”