ALLENTOWN, Pa. – An amendment to Lehigh County’s budget that would adjust funding of the district attorney’s office by about $167,000 caused some contention at the most recent county commissioners meeting.
As presented on Wednesday evening, the amendment would reduce the district attorney’s budget by “returning the salaries and benefits for full-time attorneys in the District Attorney’s office budget to 2022 adopted budget levels plus the 3.5% general wage increase for non-union employees.”
- Lehigh County commissioners considered trimming the district attorney's budget noting a recent drop in criminal cases
- District Attorney Jim Martin said he supports programs that can keep people out of prison, but not at the cost of his office's budget
- Commissioners denied an amendment that would cut the budget for the district attorney's office
- Commissioners approved an amendment to invest in legal services that will prevent evictions of families with children
Along with that, council considered a second budget amendment that would put $200,000 into the county’s economic development budget to provide funds for legal services intended to prevent evictions for families with children.
“A holistic approach to addressing the root causes of crime is often the best approach," Commissioner Dave Harrington said. "It’s also the most humane approach, as well.”
Harrington noted that the budget for the DA’s office still would increase by $330,000 -- instead of $500,000 — and referenced data from the Criminal Justice Advisory Board (CJAB) that found last year there was a “historical drop” in the number of criminal cases filed in the county.
“Last year was one of the lowest number in history that I can see through the CJAB report,” he said. “But at the same time, this budget is the highest it has ever been.”
Compared with most other counties, Harrington said, Lehigh has one of the highest numbers of assistant district attorneys per capita.
In fact, Lehigh County spends about $70 million a year on criminal justice costs, and Harrington argued that the “small change” could help the budget focus on “rehabilitation over prosecution.”
Harrington found some support for cutting the budget of the district attorney’s office -- mostly from members of the audience -- but didn’t get much from the rest of the board, nor from Lehigh County District Attorney Jim Martin.
“We need skilled prosecutors to make our streets safe,” Martin told the board.
The district attorney said throughout his career, his office has investigated 296 homicide cases and has secured convictions in 289 of them.
“A large part of the credit for that goes to the people who are right here," he said. "There are eight assistant district attorneys that will be adversely affected by this amendment. None of them deserve that. They deserve the promotions and raises that the administration approved.”
Martin argued that the drop in cases that Harrington mentioned was due to COVID-19, not a sustainable drop in criminal activity throughout the community.
“The story isn’t in the numbers," Martin said. "The story is in the preparation time that goes into those cases, the discovery time, the pretrial motion time, all of which is extraordinary.”
“Please, please defeat this amendment. It’s not the right thing to do.”Lehigh County District Attorney Jim Martin
Yet Martin said he generally supported the idea of creating programs to help keep people out of prison. He just didn’t want to see his budget amended to accommodate it — noting the economic development budget already is funded to the tune of $25 million.
“Please, please defeat this amendment," Martin said. "It’s not the right thing to do.”
In the end, commissioners tended to agree that there is room for discussion and perhaps a place for the county to find ways to make new investment into programs that can keep people from entering into the justice system.
But the board seemed to agree that cutting salaries in the DA’s budget would be the wrong way to do it.
That amendment failed by the end of the evening.
However, the amendment to provide legal support for eviction prevention was more positively received, though there was significant discussion over just how the funds would be used.
As presented, some commissioners were concerned that the amendment was vague, but commissioner Geoff Brace noted that an approval would simply set aside funding — the board would need to take future action to implement it.
"Other actions will be needed before the money is spent," Brace said.
While leaving the door open for future discussion, commissioners voted unanimously to support the amendment in the hopes of preventing evictions of families.
