Prosecutors and public defenders say they need $15.5 million over four years to cover unplanned costs associated with reopening the state’s courts after the pandemic.
John Campbell, executive director of the state Department of State’s Attorneys and Sheriffs, is pushing for $10.9 million, and Vermont Defender Gen. Matthew Valerio laid out a $4.6 million proposal.
Both requests were presented Wednesday to the Senate Judiciary Committee and span roughly four years. Each calls for additional lawyers, administrative staff and technical support, with the money coming from federal Covid-19 relief funds through American Rescue Plan Act.
The courts are making plans to deal with a case backlog that developed during the pandemic, including court sessions on nights and weekends.
“Dealing with this backlog is going to be just incredible pressure and exacerbate the situation we already have,” Campbell told the committee, referring to a current staff shortage.
The courts have been closed to all but emergency hearings for months because of the pandemic, but jury trials are expected to resume next month in state courts.
Patricia Gabel, Vermont’s court administrator, pitched a plan earlier this month totaling $13.5 million over nearly four years to help the court system deal with the pandemic backlog.
Both Valerio and Campbell said their proposals are largely in response to the court system’s plan to add judges and staff to help deal with the pending cases -— new and old.
Specifically, the state’s department for state’s attorneys is asking for eight additional prosecutors for “caseload relief” at a cost of $3 million, 12 additional victim advocates at a cost of $3.7 million and one victim advocate coordinator for $316,525, with all those costs spread over a four-year period.
If the courts hold night and weekend sessions as proposed, Campbell said 14 additional prosecutors would be needed, one for each county, at a total cost of $1.4 million over four years.
Committee Chair Dick Sears, D-Bennington, told Campbell that some of the smaller counties might not need an additional full-time staff person, while other larger ones may need more than a single additional prosecutor.
“You might need 14 positions, but I don’t know if you need one additional per county,” Sears said.
“Right,” Campbell replied. “That will be taken into consideration.”
An additional $1.9 million is also requested over four years for additional administrative support.
“Our administrative staff have advised us that they cannot continue to function at the current staffing levels physically and emotionally,” the proposal stated. “It is essential to add this assistance if we are to fulfill our statutory duties.”
The defender general’s proposal calls for 7.5 “caseload relief contractors” at a four-year cost of $2.6 million. In addition, Valerio is seeking $1.36 million for more administrative support, and $509,250 for technology support and training.
“The biggest issue we’re running into is addressing IT support for people who are out there,” Valerio said.
He said he did not budget for night or weekend courts because the judiciary’s proposal does not appear to be fully developed yet. Instead, he budgeted “unknown” for those expenses.
“I really need to know if that has anything to do with public defense at all,” he said. “The courts could just be doing divorces and foreclosures and evictions after-hours, and that would have nothing do with us.”
Valerio said staff members have expressed a willingness to work after-hours, if needed.
“While it’s not an ideal situation,” he said, “they were particularly concerned about getting clients out of jail and getting cases moving.”