District Attorney Hillar Moore will ask the Metro Council to appropriate $500,000 from the supplemental budget to help fund several new assistant DA positions.
The DA’s office is currently down by 13 employees, including seven attorneys and six investigators and clerical staffers, which is exacerbating a chronic backlog of cases, Moore says.
“We have the fewest attorneys we’ve had in my office since the 1980s,” he says. “We’re hoping this money can at least make up a few of the spots.”
Shortages in the overworked, underpaid DA.’s office are nothing new. But the problem seems to have gotten worse lately, as a growing number of assistant DAs are leaving for better paying positions with the U.S. Attorney and state Attorney General.
“We have such a high case load and they can pay so much better,” Moore says. “We like the young lawyers we have coming in but you can’t put them on a felony jury trial right off the bat. It takes experience and those are the ones we’re losing.”
Starting annual salaries in the DA’s office average around $50,000. The state picks up some $45,000 per attorney for up to 45 attorneys. The additional money to get a staff of at least 60 attorneys, which is what Moore says he needs, up to at least $50,000 a year each has to come from the city-parish.
Based on conversations with the mayor’s office, Moore is hopeful he’ll get around $250,000, half the money he needs. With that, he says he should be able to fill at least a few of the vacant positions.
The budget request will be introduced at the August 28 council meeting and will be scheduled for a vote in September.
