Wednesday, February 23, 2000
County public defenders' pay raised
Next step yet to be decided
The Cincinnati Enquirer
Lawyers who represent poor people against felony charges on behalf of Hamilton County will be receiving a little extra cash for their work.
Hamilton County commissioners agreed Tuesday to grant private attorneys handling public defender cases a $5-an-hour pay raise, retroactive as of Jan. 1.
The raise actually was approved months ago, but Public Defender Lou Strigari decided to delay implementing the increase because of a petition filed asking the state Supreme Court to appoint a commission to study the matter.
Mr. Strigari said close to 100 attorneys have dropped out of the program, which rotates felony cases to private attorneys.
“It would have been futile to implement the (pay raise) at that time,” Mr. Strigari said. “We didn't want to have to raise it twice.”
Mr. Strigari appeared before commissioners, asking for the pay to increase to $40 per hour.
Commissioners said they would be willing to implement the $5-an-hour increase, then have Mr. Strigari research other options in dealing with the declining numbers of defense lawyers willing to take on public work.
State records show Hamilton County's pay to public defenders is tied for second-lowest among Ohio's 88 counties. It was last increased 10 years ago and is 36 percent below the state average of $47 an hour.
Among the options:
• Increase the public defender's staff so that all felony cases can be handled in house.
• Bid out the work to a single firm.
• Some combination of handling cases in house and rotating cases to defense attorneys.
“We're not unsympathetic to this issue,” Commission President Bob Bedinghaus said. “But you have to give us a recommendation on the way to proceed.”
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