NORWICH – A resolution to accept grant funds to grow the size of the Chenango County Public Defender’s Office was accepted by the county Board of Supervisors on Monday, but not without debate over the strings attached.
Having approval from the State Office of Indigent Legal Services, the Public Defender’s Office will receive an allotment of $178,308 – state money that the department intends on using over the next three years for the hire of a part-time clerk and the continuation of salary for one of its two assistant public defenders on staff.
As part of the resolution, the department also proposed using $14,000 of the grant for additional expenses ($7,000 for equipment; $1,000 for training and conferences; $5,000 for contractual and expert tests; and $1,000 for other expenses).
According to the Public Defender’s Office, the allocation will help the department keep pace with an increasing workload and improve services to clients.
Merits of the grant, however, were called into question by several Board members who alluded to the cost of fringe benefits and the impact those extra costs would have on the local tax base. Benefits include health care, FICA, unemployment and pension. Although the new part-time clerk wouldn’t be eligible for such benefits, the assistant public defender would.
Salary for the assistant public defender position is currently being funded through a previous grant received by the department that’s set to expire later this year. Since the benefits package isn’t covered under that grant, the county is picking up the tab. But some Board members say that with the new grant, this shouldn’t be the case.
“Those fringe benefits are significant,” said Preston Supervisor Peter Flanagan. “I don’t see any money applied toward those fringe benefits with this grant. Even though we’re picking them up now, I don’t see how it would be appropriate to keep doing it ... We always try to keep an eye on grant funded positions and get the full shot. But it appears, at least in this case, that we’re not dealing with fringe benefits.”
Although a motion made by Plymouth Supervisor Jerry Kreiner to send the resolution back to the appropriate committee for reexamination was voted down, a different motion – made by Flanagan – was made to amend the final resolution. The amendment reappropriates the grant so that the $14,000 initially proposed for additional expenses for the remainder of this year would instead be used to cover fringe benefits of the assistant public defender position.
The amended resolution ultimately passed the Board, but acceptance of the grant was still contended among select Board members. The key concern, explained Smyrna Supervisor Michael Khoury, is that using grant funds to create government positions juxtaposes efforts to make local government more taxpayer friendly.
Koury was one of two supervisors who opposed the final resolution.
“I voted no against this grant because I don't think it’s an appropriate use of taxpayers’ money,” Khoury said. “Whether it’s state or local, it’s still taxpayer dollars. What we’re doing is growing a department when, according to our efficiency report, we have reduced the size of this department. So we’re contradicting a report that we’re sending to Albany by adding new people.”
Acceptance of the grant, with the amendment, passed in a 21-2 vote.
Chenango County spent more than $637,000 on state mandated 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 the latest round of grant funds, has been budgeted for 2015.