Before the Pulaski County Council finalized one request for additional funds for Superior Court Pauper Counsel, Judge Crystal Brucker Kocher was already asking for more money.
She told council members last week that she still expects to save a significant amount of money due to the switch to contract public defenders, but she’s still paying off the bills from when the attorneys were paid on an hourly basis. “In terms of our hourly funds that we had budgeted for this year, already, $58,051.40 has been spent,” she explained. “There is still $6,244.20 from hourly work that’s not part of contract work left over from 2018 that we are still paying on, that these bills are coming in because the cases are finishing.”
Kocher asked the council for permission to spend another $20,000 out of her Pauper Counsel budget. Council Member Kathi Thompson asked if that money could be transferred out of the Public Defender Fund instead, but Kocher said that’s what she uses to pay contract public defenders. “I don’t want to touch that because if my contract people who are already being paid less than anyone else in the State of Indiana are afraid that that money’s not going to be there, that’s a concern for me,” the judge explained.
In the end, council members agreed to advertise the additional appropriation request out of a Pauper Counsel line item in the General Fund, instead. That should be up for final approval next month.
Council members also finalized an additional appropriation of $26,500 that was discussed back in February, but had just recently been advertised. That also included $20,000 for Superior Court Pauper Counsel. The rest was for Witness Fees and Examination of Prisoners.
