County May Boost Pay of Defenders, Prosecutors

Ventura County prosecutors and deputy public defenders would get salary increases intended to bring them up to par with pay in other Southern California counties under a $4.3-million proposal that goes before the Board of Supervisors next week.

Under the plan, 120 government attorneys would get a 5% raise each year through 2003. At the end of four years, the increases would push the salary of an attorney with a few years’ experience from the current $52,598 to $71,526, and veteran attorneys from $75,140 to $101,348.

Beginning attorneys would see an immediate benefit under the plan, which also reclassifies attorneys into new pay categories. Starting salaries, now at about $35,000, would increase to about $40,000. That is still about $4,000 below the average starting salary for counties in the Southland, according to union officials.

Officials hope the agreement will stem a steady stream of attorneys who have left Ventura County for better paying jobs, particularly in Los Angeles, Orange and San Diego counties.

The problem became so pronounced earlier this year that Los Angeles Dist. Atty. Gil Garcetti telephoned Ventura County Dist. Atty. Michael D. Bradbury to apologize for unintentionally raiding his staff, according to attorneys in Bradbury’s office.

The union representing the attorneys, Criminal Justice Attorneys Assn. of Ventura County, has been pushing for pay parity with seven neighboring counties since it formed in 1993.

A long-term funding plan has yet to be determined, said interim county manager Bert Bigler. Funding would likely come from discretionary funds in the county’s general revenue pot, Bigler said.

Down the road, some funding could potentially be drawn from money collected through voter-approved Proposition 172--the half-cent sales tax used in Ventura County for criminal justice agencies.

An initial 3% salary increase for attorneys, which would go into effect this month if supervisors approve the plan, would come from existing budgets for the district attorney, public defender and county courts, which hire attorneys to assist judges and administer court-related programs.

Pay scales now range from $34,787 for beginning attorneys to $80,769 for attorneys with at least seven years’ experience.

Union officials said third-year prosecutors in Ventura County have been earning about $55,000, compared with about $72,000 for attorneys with the same level of experience in San Diego County.

“We were having a very hard time recruiting people because our starting salary was so pathetic people couldn’t pay off their student loans,” said Maeve Fox, a senior deputy district attorney and president of the union.

“I think they realized the problem . . . was becoming tremendous.”

The county runs a costly program in which it recruits third-year law students to train as deputy district attorneys and deputy public defenders. The county has successfully drawn many law students who might not otherwise have considered Ventura County, government officials said.

But many have promptly left their jobs for higher paying positions in nearby counties once they complete training, officials said. The proposed pay increases would help keep them here, making those programs cost-effective, said Deputy Public Defender Doug Daily.