Grant funds will grow size of Public Defender’s Office
CHENANGO COUNTY – Pending approval from the County Board of Supervisors next week, the Chenango County Public Defender’s Office stands to benefit from a state grant that will increase the size of the department, at least temporarily.
The New York State Office of Indigent Legal Services, whose purpose is to ensure appropriate and competent legal services to indigent clients, has awarded the Public Defender’s Office a $178,300 grant which will allow the department to hire two additional part-time positions – one clerk, and one assistant defender – in the coming months. Both positions are contingent on receiving state funds and do not include fringe benefits that would come at the county’s expense.
Should the grant be approved by the Board of Supervisors, the department insists that those two positions will go away if and state funding is no longer available.
A case to accept the grant was made before members of multiple county committees in February including the Safety and Rules, Personnel, and Finance committees. Public Defender John Cameron explained that the grant, with its three-year lifespan, will help the department meet mandates passed down by the state legislature.
“It’s understood that after three years, if this grant isn’t available anymore, that will be the end of those part-time positions,” Cameron said at a meeting of the Safety and Rules Committee last month. “The purpose of these grants is to improve services and we believe this is the best use of these funds.”
The department says having two more part-time positions will also help it come into compliance with state and federal standards which require an attorney to handle no more than 367 misdemeanor caseloads per year. Last year, Assistant Public Defender Aaron Dean took on 515 misdemeanor cases.
While grant funds may be a help to the department now, Cameron said it may be a sign that the state is leaning toward a takeover of county-run indigent defense services within the next five to ten years. Under state law, counties are ordered to provide adequate services for indigent defendants. However, five counties – Ontario, Onondaga, Schuyler, Suffolk and Washington – settled a seven-year lawsuit against the state last October after accusing the state of violating the constitutional rights of indigent legal defendants by not providing adequate legal representation. The state agreed to spend $5.5 million for indigent legal services in those five counties over the next two yeas as part of the settlement.
The notion of a state takeover of indigent defense services was further backed by the Chenango County Board of Supervisors at their February meeting, when board members unanimously passed a resolution calling on state government to fully fund the county’s indigent legal defense system as a way to minimize the impact on the local property tax burden.
Chenango County spent more than $637,000 on indigent defense services in 2013. But with recent personnel changes in the Public Defender’s Office, that figure was lowered to a budgeted $568,359 in 2014. Only $566,203, not including anticipated grant funds, has been budgeted for 2015.
The New York State Office of Indigent Legal Services, whose purpose is to ensure appropriate and competent legal services to indigent clients, has awarded the Public Defender’s Office a $178,300 grant which will allow the department to hire two additional part-time positions – one clerk, and one assistant defender – in the coming months. Both positions are contingent on receiving state funds and do not include fringe benefits that would come at the county’s expense.
Should the grant be approved by the Board of Supervisors, the department insists that those two positions will go away if and state funding is no longer available.
A case to accept the grant was made before members of multiple county committees in February including the Safety and Rules, Personnel, and Finance committees. Public Defender John Cameron explained that the grant, with its three-year lifespan, will help the department meet mandates passed down by the state legislature.
“It’s understood that after three years, if this grant isn’t available anymore, that will be the end of those part-time positions,” Cameron said at a meeting of the Safety and Rules Committee last month. “The purpose of these grants is to improve services and we believe this is the best use of these funds.”
The department says having two more part-time positions will also help it come into compliance with state and federal standards which require an attorney to handle no more than 367 misdemeanor caseloads per year. Last year, Assistant Public Defender Aaron Dean took on 515 misdemeanor cases.
While grant funds may be a help to the department now, Cameron said it may be a sign that the state is leaning toward a takeover of county-run indigent defense services within the next five to ten years. Under state law, counties are ordered to provide adequate services for indigent defendants. However, five counties – Ontario, Onondaga, Schuyler, Suffolk and Washington – settled a seven-year lawsuit against the state last October after accusing the state of violating the constitutional rights of indigent legal defendants by not providing adequate legal representation. The state agreed to spend $5.5 million for indigent legal services in those five counties over the next two yeas as part of the settlement.
The notion of a state takeover of indigent defense services was further backed by the Chenango County Board of Supervisors at their February meeting, when board members unanimously passed a resolution calling on state government to fully fund the county’s indigent legal defense system as a way to minimize the impact on the local property tax burden.
Chenango County spent more than $637,000 on indigent defense services in 2013. But with recent personnel changes in the Public Defender’s Office, that figure was lowered to a budgeted $568,359 in 2014. Only $566,203, not including anticipated grant funds, has been budgeted for 2015.
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