Onondaga County lawmakers appear ready to consider a plan aimed at stemming the loss of lawyers from the district attorney’s office.
District Attorney Bill Fitzpatrick first sounded the alarm with legislators back in February. Fast forward two months and the office presented a proposal to the Onondaga County Legislature’s Public Safety Committee on Wednesday that includes significant pay raises for entry-level assistant DAs, or ADAs, to about $87,000.
First Chief Assistant District Attorney Joe Coolican told lawmakers the pay difference is significant.
“I'm currently in the process of trying to recruit assistant district attorneys from other counties to come to us and I find that their starting pay is $86,000. Ours is $64,000,” Coolican said at the committee meeting.
He said the DA’s office isn’t asking for additional funding, but is seeking permission to eliminate some positions and reallocate the money toward raises that they hope will recruit new attorneys and stem the flow of existing attorneys that are going elsewhere.
“A good bulk of the people leaving are leaving for the Attorney General's Office, which offers the same salary structure," Coolican said. "They're leaving to become New York State employees in the court system. We've had people leave for other district attorney's offices, again, that pay more in smaller counties with lesser workload.”
Coolican said it’s especially disappointing when they lose an ADA who had just gained enough experience to try tough cases.
“For instance, we lost a homicide prosecutor, he had been basically deep selected for that job," Coolican said. "We had spent three years training him up to be a homicide prosecutor, he had just reached the point where we could shove him off into court by himself and trust he can try the case, and he left us for the Attorney General‘s Office for a raise of approximately $20,000-$30,000.”
The Onondaga County Legislature’s Public Safety Committee approved the personnel changes, but there are more steps before it is implemented. The plan must pass through the Ways and Means Committee before landing on the full legislature agenda next month.
