by Mike Sharkey
Staff Writer
A governmental agency bemoaning its current financial situation isn’t anything new these days.
When it’s the State Attorney’s Office and violent crime is up and it services the “murder capital” of the state and lawyers are leaving and no one has gotten a raise in years and everyone is working unpaid overtime, it could be a problem.
In a nutshell, that was the message Thursday when State Attorney Harry Shorstein met with members of the local media to talk about his current budget, cuts he’s facing and how both of those will affect the ability of his office to prosecute criminals in the Fourth Judicial Circuit.
“Last year we had a 20 percent increase in violent crime in Duval County. That is unequaled in the state,” said Shorstein, adding the other cities comparable in size to Jacksonville have seen a slight decrease or have stayed flat in violent crime. “The Sheriff’s office has seen a significant increase in its budget while ours continues to go down. It really makes no sense. The way it’s funded is not working.”
According to Shorstein, his office is financed primarily by state funds with the rest coming from the City of Jacksonville. While other State Attorney Offices across the state are cutting units such as crimes against children, the elderly and white-collar crimes, Shorstein says his office is prosecuting everything that comes in.
How much longer that can last is the issue.
Shorstein’s budget year begins July 1 and he will operate with a budget of $20 million and 369 positions. Of those employees, about one-fourth are prosecutors. But, that number is dropping as fast as crime is going up. Shorstein said he’ll add 11 new attorneys in August after recent law graduates get their Bar exam results, however, he’s losing them quickly — three last week alone.
“We were up to 108 assistant State Attorneys at one point, but have 92 or 93 now,” he said. “From now until the end of my term (he’s not seeking re-election and will end 17 years with the office Dec. 31), I predict we’ll lose a significant number more. I predict we’ll lose 15 or more.”
Shorstein attributes the attrition rate to his inability to adequately pay his attorneys. He said the starting salary is $40,000 a year. Considering many owe for student loans from law school, what’s left isn’t much. Shorstein said it has been years since many had a raise and he understands why some aren’t upholding their non-binding four-year commitment.
“The take home pay is very close to the poverty line,” said Shorstein, referencing the salaries after taxes, loan payments and cost of living. “We lost three attorneys last week. We joke, with 30 weeks left before I am done, I’ll be the only one left. If we didn’t joke about that, we’d cry.
“In truth, we haven’t honored our commitment to them. We tell them that will go from $40,000 a year to $50,000 a year in two or two-and-a-half years. We are not doing that.”
Shorstein blames his funding woes on decisions made in Tallahassee — not this year, but in years past when revenues were up and everyone’s budgets were healthier.
“The answer, of course, is in Tallahassee,” he said. “If Gov. (Charlie) Crist walked in here, he’d agree and I think the Legislature would, too. The problem is there isn’t any money. They did fail this year. They have failed over the years. When they had an extra billion dollars (due to revenues), they didn’t fund us properly. They funded pet projects.
“I can’t point to anything in particular. I think they did wrong when they had the money. We cannot become any more efficient.”
According to the Council Auditor’s Office, the City has a reserve fund. That fund had $40 million in it until recently when City Council approved $3 million for Sheriff John Rutherford to hire 40 more officers, leaving a balance of $37 million. At the end of each fiscal year, the general fund balance is transferred to the reserve fund.
Mayoral spokesperson Misty Skipper said the mayor’s office doesn’t think it will be able to transfer any of the $37 million to the State Attorney’s Office.
“We don’t see a situation in which the City, given its financial situation, can offset the budget reductions within another agency,” she said.