Prosecutor's office wins salary increases from Delaware County Council

MUNCIE, Ind. − Late last month, Delaware County Council agreed to salary increases requested by County Prosecutor Eric Hoffman to aid in retaining the nine deputy prosecutors who remain employed at his office and recruit more deputy prosecutors to prosecute what appears to be a growing number of violent criminals.

The decision by council followed Hoffman's urgent warnings of a potential collapse of the prosecutor's office as well as warnings of legal action he could take against the County Council if the salary requests weren't met.

Council granted Hoffman's requested increase of $10,698 in base salaries for each of his 10 deputy prosecutors on staff, taking them from $74,302 to $85,000 annually. Additionally, Hoffman received funds to make each deputy prosecutor eligible for an additional salary stipend ranging up to $10,000.

Questions about the request, which came after county budget season and the loss of two deputy prosecutors last year − along with a dramatic rise in violent crime − focused more on when rather than amounts.

"The timing is a little bit of a problem for me," said council member Ryan Webb. "It's hard for me to get there."

Hoffman said the increases were a necessity for his office to continue doing its job and to replace deputy prosecutors to try cases in local courts.

"If I can't hire a prosecutor for Circuit 4, what am I going to tell the victim's family? I don't have somebody to try your case?," Hoffman said. "What do you want me to tell them? The County Council won't fund it?"

Hoffman went on to note that "unlike any other department in county, there is a specific statute that says county council shall fund the county prosecuting attorney's office at an amount that I deem to be necessary. Ok, what I've submitted, I deem necessary. There's a statewide study that says I am 23 deputy prosecutors short. So I suppose we could go ahead and vote on this or I can file a lawsuit for 23 more prosecutors."

The increases passed council 5 to 2, with Webb and Eugene Whitehead voting no. Whitehead said he supported the proposed salary increases but not the stipends.

"The prosecutor asked for a salary increase in September, during the budget hearing, and we granted it. It wasn’t until after − when raises for other county employees were made public − that the prosecutor asked for this additional increase for salaries," Webb said. "Nobody is going to convince me that not giving the deputy prosecutors an immediate raise would somehow prevent the current prosecutors from being able to adequately perform their job functions. The two are not related. This was nothing more than leverage being used to win pay increases for the deputy prosecutors. Congratulations to Eric, because it absolutely worked."

But Hoffman says the crisis his office is facing is real.

"He could not be more wrong," the prosecutor said of Webb. "It wasn’t a threat at all.  The law is clear the county council must fund the prosecutor’s office in amount the prosecutor seems reasonable.   I have repeatedly informed the council in writing, last August and December, as well as in person that without the adequate number of deputy prosecutors I cannot fulfill my constitutional duty to prosecute the thousands of pending felonies."

Hoffman said the deputy prosecutor for Circuit Court 4 has been open since October, which shows the pay is not competitive.

"If you can’t retain qualified attorneys to be deputy prosecutors in a county such as ours, the criminal justice system will come to a screeching halt.  This is not like a large factory where you have hundreds and hundreds of employees and one position isn’t filled. We have nine deputy prosecutors.  This is not a position that can go unfilled for much longer," Hoffman told the Star Press. "Circuit Court 4 does not have a deputy prosecutor to prosecute the hundreds of pending felony cases. Yes, this is absolutely a public safety emergency.  The police can arrest all the criminals they can but unless there are enough deputy prosecutors to work the cases − justice will not be had."

Hoffman said that when the prosecutor’s office has an open deputy prosecutor position, "those hundreds and hundreds of cases don’t just simply get placed on a shelf until someone is hired. The other eight deputies as well as myself have to rotate and cover."

Prosecutor's office staffing, he said, is in a perilous position.

"If another deputy (prosecutor) leaves it is all going to fall like a house of cards.  There are not enough deputies to work their own caseload in addition to the caseload of the vacant positions," Hoffman said.

In spite of the salary increase granted in March, he said, no new applications for deputy prosecutor have yet been received.

"What does that tell us?" Hoffman said. "The salary is still not competitive."

He said he plans to address staffing issues this year.

Webb said he hoped that Hoffman asks for two additional deputy prosecutors and another salary increase, which he said he would support. "Because that would be the appropriate time to do so."

A recent statewide study of prosecutors offices that concluded Delaware County was 23 attorneys short of being an adequately staffed.

"We are the ninth most under staffed office out of all of Indiana’s 92 counties," Hoffman said. "That issue I will address at budget time when I will ask for funding for additional deputy prosecutors."

The pay increases provided by council apply only to deputy prosecutors and not the rest of Hoffman's staff.

"Thank you to the council for seeing the problem and taking the steps necessary to address it," Hoffman said. "I appreciate their decisive action."

David Penticuff is a news reporter at The Star Press. Contact him at dpenticuff@gannett.com.

This article originally appeared on Muncie Star Press: Prosecutor's office wins Salary increases from Delaware County Council