$139,000/yr for a public defender?

I must be doing it wrong

BY ADAM TESTA, THE SOUTHERN Posted: Monday, April 19, 2010 3:00 am No

Counties throughout Illinois are facing difficult choices regarding a crucial job because of a lack of financial reimbursement from the state.

The state has been more than seven months behind on issuing payments to the municipalities for its share of public defenders' salaries. Under state law, the government is supposed to reimburse the counties for two-thirds of these salary rates, which are to be set at 90 percent of the state's attorney's salary.

Jackson County Board members voted earlier this week to temporarily reduce the salary of the public defender from $139,000 to $93,000. If the state issues payments, the money will be directed to the office holder.

Now, other Southern Illinois counties find themselves facing similar situations.

"I think it's something every county in the state is dealing with," said Williamson County Board Chairman Brent Gentry. "We're no different. That's most likely going to be happening everywhere."

Gentry said the board discussed the situation this past week and may address it again at its meeting Tuesday. There are no easy answers in this scenario, he said.

"The board doesn't want to do that (cut salary) period, but when your back's against the wall and the state's not doing anything, you have to do something yourself," he said.

Randall Crocker, chairman of the Franklin County Board, said he and other board members have begun discussion on possible solutions but not taken any action. He believes Jackson County made the right call for the time being, as no other options appear to be presenting themselves.

"We're studying and we're very concerned the state's not meeting their obligations, which is preventing us from meeting our ob-ligations," he said.

adam.testa@thesouthern.com

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