County to increase pay, number of public defenders
In a decision that’s been coming for a number of years, Putnam County will increase both the number of public defenders serving the county, as well as the wages for those positions.
In a unanimous vote recently, the Putnam County Council approved a one-year plan for the increased cost to be funded through the county public defender fund.
In 2023 and beyond, the Council will have to consider how to budget for the increase.
The request, made in person by Putnam Circuit Court Judge Matt Headley on behalf of himself, Superior Court Judge Denny Bridges and Magistrate Melinda Jackman-Hanlin, was prompted by the recent resignation of a public defender.
“We just lost another public defender last week for a similar position in another county that pays two times more and only has one half of the cases,” the three judges wrote in a letter to the Council and Putnam County Commissioners. “The percentage of public defender assigned cases continues to rise. Right now, only one Putnam County-based attorney does any public defender work.
“We need to pay more and reduce caseload.”
With Headley’s presentation, he had prepared a chart comparing Putnam with several counties that are either adjacent or have similar populations in Western Indiana — Hendricks, Owen, Clay, Greene, Morgan, Knox and Montgomery.
While Hendricks is a bit of an outlier with its population of 175,000 residents, the $65,000 salary it pays part-time public defenders is well beyond the $43,000 Putnam pays.
Putnam County only employs part-time public defenders on a contractual basis.
Even other counties, though, are allocating more to their public defender office relative to population.
“It’s pretty sad when Clay County, with a population of about two thirds of Putnam County, has a higher budget than Putnam County,” the letter stated. “Or that Knox and Montgomery counties (with similar populations) have double the budget for these services.”
Clay’s budget of $282,000 is roughly the same as Putnam’s, while Montgomery budgets $577,000 and Knox allots $580,000.
Ultimately, the Council acted on the judges’ recommendation to continue with the contracted public defenders, but with a pay increase from $43,000 to $50,000 and with an increased number of public defenders.
The county currently has five part-time public defenders. In 2022, there will be a total of 6-1/2 part-time public defenders — two for Circuit Court, 2-1/2 for Superior Court and two dedicated to Child in Need of Services and Termination of Parental rights cases.
This will mark an estimated increase of $90,000 a year for the public defenders budget.
One other proposal was to go through the State Public Defender Commission, but the judges estimated this would come at a cost $120,00 beyond the contract route.
Meanwhile, a third proposal was to pay the attorneys an hourly rate, but the judges noted this would most likely be “substantially higher” than the other plans.
The request was ultimately met with sympathy from the council, with Phil Gick noting that the addition of a magistrate in 2019 was due to increased cases, so it would follow that more attorneys are needed.
“We’ve been kicking this can for a long time and I think it’s probably time that we act,” Council President Dave Fuhrman said.
The increase will be funded in 2022 by the public defender fund, which is funded by charges to those who use a public defender and are convicted — $50 for misdemeanors and $100 for felonies.
While collection rates are low, the fund hasn’t been utilized in several years and has grown from $120,000 to $144,000 during 2021.
Councilman Jay Alcorn asked if it would make sense for the council to contribute some money in 2022 to make the budget stretch further. Other council members said they would prefer to deal with such questions at budget time, which won’t be until summer 2022 when planning for 2023 takes place.
Danny Wallace made the motion to approve the plan, with Alcorn seconding. Keith Berry, Larry Parker, Stephanie Campbell and Gick all joined with their affirmative votes.
Meeting for the final time in 2021, the Council also addressed a few housekeeping items.
• All council appointments to various boards will stay the same, except that Alcorn will replace Berry on the Putnam County Community Foundation Board.
Other assignments include Alcorn to the County Plan Commission; Campbell to West Central Solid Waste and the Putnam County Board of Health; Fuhrman to the Cemetery Board, EMA, LEPC and Community Corrections; Gick to the 911 Board, Greencastle/Putnam County Development Center, Thrive West Central and Putnam County Park Board liaison; Parker as Commissioners liaison; and Wallace to the Operation Life board, Humane Society of Putnam County and pretrial release program.
The Council also re-appointed Kayla Flegal and Barbara Boese to the Putnam County Public Library Board.
• Council meeting dates will remain the same in 2022 — 6:30 p.m. on the third Tuesday of each month on the first floor of the Putnam County Courthouse.
• The Council also agreed to again pay overtime rather than granting compensatory for the Putnam County Health Department in 2022.
This has been the case at the Health Department since not long after the COVID-19 pandemic began, as there is simply not enough time for employees to take the extra time off needed to make up for extra time worked.
“We feel for the health department,” Fuhrman said. “They’ve been the busiest group in the county this year.”