DA looking for county approval to expand
The Tulare County District Attorney is looking to add a handful of new members to their legal team and is hoping The Tulare County Board of Supervisors will approve the request during their regular meeting on Tuesday morning.
Right now there are currently four Supervising Deputy District Attorneys who are working over time on high case loads.
The DA is looking to add eight Assistant District Attorneys and two Chief Deputy District Attorneys in order to take on overloads of casework.
“Currently, 45% of the department’s Deputy District Attorneys have two years or less experience prosecuting cases,” reads the staff report attached to Tuesday’s agenda. “The Department’s supervising attorneys and senior prosecutors prosecute the most time-intensive cases, such as homicides, child molestation, rape, gang cases, and major fraud. These additions will help the department focus more supervision on training and adhering to the policies and implementation of new laws being written by the legislature.”
The estimated salary and benefit cost to create and implement these positions is $759,162 for the remainder of the fiscal year.
In addition to the ten positions mentioned before, the DA department is requesting the addition of one Field Evidence Technician II position and delete one media specialist position. This would come at an estimated cost increase of $2,241 for the remaining fiscal year.
The DA department is also requesting a salary adjustment for the Chief Investigator/ District Attorney at a rate of 4.98%. This would create a cost increase of roughly $3,232 for the remaining fiscal year.
“The requested position changes will cost approximately $764,635 for the remaining ten pay periods in Fiscal Year 2022/23,” says the staff report. “The Department will utilize departmental savings to cover the increased cost. Therefore, there will be no additional net County cost to the General Fund for Fiscal Year 2022/23.”
The board has no other items scheduled for discussion for their meeting Tuesday morning. All other items on the agenda are consent calendar items and maybe approved all in one motion with no board discussion.
This meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, February 7, beginning at 9:00 a.m. It can be attended in person or streamed live via the Tulare County Youtube channel.