×

County DA Wants Funding Increase For Additional Attorney

From left, Patrick Swanson, Chautauqua County district attorney, and John Zuroski, chief assistant, discussing the District Attorney’s Office budget with the Chautauqua County Legislature Public Safety Committee Wednesday. Swanson is asking county lawmakers for an increase of around $95,000 in 2019 to hire an additional attorney. P-J photo by Dennis Phillips

MAYVILLE — With felony case loads increasing across the board and the same number of attorneys and staff working each, the Chautauqua County District Attorney’s office would like to hire an additional attorney to lighten the burden.

On Wednesday, Patrick Swanson, Chautauqua County district attorney, and John Zuroski, chief assistant, discussed the DA’s office budget with the Chautauqua County Legislature Public Safety Committee. Swanson has proposed adding one entry-level attorney, which would cost around $95,000 a year, over the next four years, for a total of 14 assistant district attorneys, to assist with the felony case load.

During his discussion, Swanson said the highest number of felonies, drug felonies, violent felonies and drug misdemeanors ever occurred last year in Chautauqua County. In 2017, there were 1,144 felonies, an increase of 127, or 31 percent; 258 drug felonies, a rise of 57, or 45 percent; 212 violent felonies, a jump of 41, or 24 percent; and 451 drug misdemeanors, which rose 116, or 35 percent.

“Those are the people in possession of narcotics,” Swanson said about the 451 drug misdemeanors.

Swanson said last year the number of illegal gun charges increased by 23, from nine in 2016 to 32 in 2017. He said of the 212 violent felonies, 90 of those cases dealt with robberies, drugs or guns. He added that they all stem from the drug trade throughout the county.

Along with the number of cases increasing for the DA’s office, so has the amount of information that needs processed by the attorneys and staff. Swanson said technology has helped them with convictions, but also has increased the amount of information they have to process. He added there are body camera videos and cell phone data information that needs to be analyzed for each case.

“We feel like we’re being pulled in a million directions,” he said.

Swanson said his assistant district attorneys are handling an average of 185 felony cases a year, which is triple the number of other counties. In one chart Swanson provided the committee, it listed 13 counties with populations ranging between 229,000 to 99,000, with Chautauqua County landing in the middle with 129,000 residents. When comparing to the county with the next greatest population, Schenectady with 155,000 residents, the chart shows it has 22 assistant district attorneys while Chautauqua County has only 10. Schenectady also has a much larger DA’s office budget of $3,534,643 while the Chautauqua County District Attorney has budget of $1,745,061. Last year in Schenectady there were 1,341 felony cases while Chautauqua County had 1,144 last year. The Chautauqua County DA’s office handled only 197 fewer felonies than Schenectady with half the number of attorneys and budget.

While comparing Chautauqua County with the county with the next lowest population, Oswego with 118,000, both DA offices have the same number of assistant district attorneys while Oswego had a larger budget at $1,833,858 and handled 384 fewer felony cases.

“It puts stress on you when you are handling that many files,” Swanson said about the felony case load for each assistant district attorney.

Swanson said, with the number of felony cases the county DA’s office is handling compared to other counties in the state, he would be justified to ask for double his current budget.

“The numbers and figures justify themselves,” he said.

Swanson is also scheduled to talk about his budget with the Audit and Control Committee today at 8:35 a.m. at the Gerace Office Building in Mayville.

Newsletter

Today's breaking news and more in your inbox

I'm interested in (please check all that apply)
Are you a paying subscriber to the newspaper? *
   

COMMENTS

[vivafbcomment]

Starting at $4.62/week.

Subscribe Today