District Attorney seeks more money for operating

Editor’s Note: Citing pending budget cuts, Houston County District Attorney Doug Valeska has received legislative approval for a $20 court cost increase for all criminal, civil and child support cases, $9 of which would go to his office. As the bill awaits the governor’s signature, Valeska’s need for additional funding prompted an Alabama Open Records request by the Dothan Eagle. The following is the first of a series based on that information.

Sometime late last year, Alabama’s 41 district attorneys were made aware of pending budget cuts from the state, which provides about 31 percent of the Houston County DA’s total budget.

With the economy being what it is, and in a state that depends heavily on sales taxes for operating revenue, the pending 13.27 percent cuts might have been seen as inevitable. The cuts went into effect during the second quarter of fiscal year 2009.

When there are shortfalls to any budget, ideally, two things happen: New revenue is generated and/or cuts are made. Local District Attorney Doug Valeska sought new revenue and said he is contemplating cuts.

In January, he asked the Houston County Commission for approval to seek a $9 per case legislative fee hike for all criminal, civil, child support and traffic cases. The total increase is $20, as Houston County Commissioners tacked on another $10 for an expansion to the county jail and another $1 is going to Circuit Clerk Carla Woodall’s office for manpower needs.

Some judges and law enforcement supported the fee increase, saying the bad guys are the ones who will foot the bill. But the costs are far-reaching. Speeders will pay more too, as will people who sue in civil court.

County commissioners Bobby Snellgrove and Curtis Harvey voted against the increase. Because the current recession has resulted in increased job losses, both men said now is not the time to raise fees.

The request prevailed on a 3-2 vote.

Valeska, who represents the 20th Judicial Circuit comprised of Henry and Houston counties, said had he known there was going to be proration, he might have rethought some of his expenditures and been a little less generous to local and state victim’s rights groups, which received more than $108,000 from his office last year.

Saying “justice is not free,” Valeska says additional monies are needed to maintain the efficiency of his office, whose staff faces an ever-rising case load and now must handle additional activity that comes with last year’s creation of a new circuit judgeship.

Valeska said he will use the funds to hire an additional prosecutor for the fifth judgeship for the circuit.

Currently, the Alabama District Attorney’s Association reports that 11 counties have already passed bills similar to the one Valeska is seeking.

There are about 18 to 20 other counties seeking local bills to increase fees this legislative session, according to Randy Hillman, executive director of the Alabama District Attorney’s Association.

Most have passed the Senate. Hillman wrote in an e-mail that the governor’s signature is all that’s left. With the expected passage, 30 of 67 counties will have seen court cost increases.

The shortfall

The Governor’s Deficit Prevention Plan reduces Valeska’s annual state appropriation by $98,165.

According to documents the Dothan Eagle received from the DA, that figure is about $10,000 less than contributions Valeska’s office made to local and state victims’ groups, and is close to what the office spent on seminars and travel over the last year; that does not include travel costs for witnesses or those related to court cases.

Valeska said the budget reduction is difficult for an office as busy as his to absorb. The cut leaves him receiving $641,504 from the state. Thirteen other districts receive more funding that District 20.

“I didn’t know the budget cut was coming,” Valeska said last week. “In the past they were good years. We were informed of the cuts when the governor said ‘proration.’

“They had given me a new circuit judge, Brad Mendheim, with no money. I need an assistant district attorney and a secretary. With a new judgeship, there will be more indictments, more paperwork, more filing, more cases and all that comes with this judgeship.”

Valeska said his office has never had a full-time investigator, which is also needed.

Valeska says he wonders every day how he will keep his office afloat.

“I haven’t decided where I am cutting back. Am I going to let employees go? I have to be able to make a payroll. I can’t wait until the last quarter. I don’t know what I am going to do because we are not going to be able to make payroll. We may park cars.”

Valeska noted that the court cost increase, if the governor signs it, is delayed 90 days. It could be well into the fall before any of those funds build up.

There is no doubt that Valeska’s office is a busy one. During 2007, a total of 9,571 new cases were filed in Houston and Henry counties. The local DA disposed of 9,573 cases that year. Cases which were resolved in 2007 rose 6 percent from the previous year. The cases are broken down as follows:

Criminal — 47 percent

Domestic — 18 percent

Juvenile — 15 percent

Civil — 11 percent

Child Support — 9 percent

According to the fiscal year 2008-09 budget submitted to the state last October by Valeska, the department operated in the 2007-08 fiscal year with $2.1 million in revenues.

Nearly one-third of the budget ($700,113) was state funds. Nearly another third ($510,000) was listed as “other revenue.”

Roughly half of this amount, or $310,000, came in as pre-trial diversion receipts last year from cases that didn’t make trial, but instead were handled as part of the pre-trial diversion program, established in 2003.

Pretrial diversion allows first-time, non-violent offenders to avoid prison time as long as they pay restitution to the victims.

Also included in these other revenues include $42,000 in condemnation funds for drug and other seizures; $12,000 from victim’s witness funds; and $9,800 in interest on accounts.

The DA had a $360,339 carryover from the previous year, and received $180,522 from the worthless check unit and another $223,543 in restitution recovery. The office collected $80,830 in court costs for the DA fund.

Actual expenditures for 07-08 were $1.4 million, creating an ending cash balance of $806,607.

During the current fiscal year, the department budgeted for $2.7 million in revenues. The current year’s expenditures are budgeted at $1.6 million, with increases expected across the board.  An ending fund balance of more than $1 million is projected.

The largest increased expenditure from this year to next is expected to come in personnel costs, which Valeska has budgeted to rise by $100,000. Employee benefits will rise by $55,000. These cover the additional assistant DA Valeska was hoping to hire.

Budget figures show that personnel and benefits accounted for 68 percent of all expenditures in the district attorney’s office in 07-08. Another 9 percent ($127,911) went for travel and 11 percent ($167,000) are grants and benefits given away to various Victims of Crime and Leniency groups and the Wiregrass Angel House.

Valeska uses funds to assist a lot of agencies. He has purchased things like a $10 holster for a Southern Linc phone for a state trooper and paid the $375 registration fee for a sheriff’s deputy to attend the Alabama District Attorney’s Association conference in Orange Beach. Valeska has purchased a drug dog, shields for SWAT team members, shirts, and other items.

“I give to law enforcement, VOCAL, the Southeast Alabama Child Advocacy Center. ...,” he said. “Police officers are underfunded.”

He said money given to VOCAL is money well spent because many victims must deal with the trauma of what has happened to them.

“The VOCAL Angel House is just as important. There are more child abuse and rape cases than homicide cases every year. We need places to counsel these children and help them. I gave a lot of money for start-up to get that house going.”

“I won’t put a price on a murder victim’s family that needs help. They have to get up the next day and understand the court system, get counseling .... We stay with them throughout the trial. That is money well spent.”

Valeska acknowledges the contributions, including $53,000 to the Angel House, are a lot of money – “until you lose a loved one.”

“If I had known we were going into proration, I might not have given them as much, but I care about those victims.”

Hillman said by way of e-mail that any rise in court costs is necessary to keep district attorney offices functioning.

“I know of no other state agency that is as poorly funded by the state as are DAs,” he said. “When you consider that we (district attorneys) have to generate over 56 percent of our budget every year to keep the doors open, it is truly shameful.

“We are relegated to running a small business in our offices to make sure that rapists, murderers and drug dealers are brought to justice. In Fiscal Year 2008-09, DA Valeska will only receive 38.7 percent of his budget from the state of Alabama General Fund,” he said.

The state in turn tells local DA’s, Hillman interpreted, “in essence ’go find the rest if you want to continue providing the services that the state demands of you.’”

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Stories Coming Monday:

DA office’s travel expenses

What DA spends on salaries

Story Coming Tuesday:

DA given broad discretion to spend pretrial diversion funds