LUBBOCK, Texas (KCBD) – Lubbock County\u2019s top prosecutor says flat funding is pushing attorneys out the door and putting public safety at risk.<\/p>\n
District Attorney Sunshine Stanek says her office is currently down 10 prosecutors \u2014 a fifth of her attorney workforce. She said in her 26 years with the office, she has never seen it in its current state. <\/p>\n
While she feared it may fall on deaf ears, she urged commissioners to increase funding so she could give her employees eight percent raises at an initial budget hearing in June.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf we keep having years like last year, where we don\u2019t give them anything, we are setting this office and public safety and this community up for failure,\u201d Stanek said.<\/p>\n
Attorneys leaving for higher pay<\/p>\n
Stanek said of the 12 attorneys who left over the past year, 10 departed for higher-paying jobs and two left the workforce entirely. She said those departures included both new attorneys and two who had been practicing for more than a decade.<\/p>\n
\u201cTo know the reason why someone\u2019s leaving your office is not only very personal to me, but it\u2019s something that we could actually do something about,\u201d Stanek said. \u201cIt\u2019s not like they\u2019re complaining about the environment or the work or things like that. It\u2019s something that you could actually change if people would get on board with that.\u201d<\/p>\n
She told commissioners her top priorities are retaining experienced attorneys and recruiting new ones. She said entry-level attorneys could immediately earn $23,000 more by taking a job in Canyon, roughly 90 miles away.<\/p>\n
Salaries stagnant since last correction<\/p>\n
Chief Administrator and Prosecutor Edward Wharff said commissioners brought salaries up to a competitive rate three years ago but pay has not moved since.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have just slowly lost folks again and we\u2019re at another point where it\u2019s going to have to take quite a big correction to set us right,\u201d Wharff said.<\/p>\n
Last year, county departments were asked to cut their budgets by 10 percent, and county employees did not receive raises or cost-of-living adjustments. Stanek said she declined a $5,000 raise to her county stipend that commissioners offered to some elected officials because her staff received nothing.<\/p>\n
State grant funds out of reach<\/p>\n
Stanek said she is also still requesting the three additional positions she sought last year and warned that inaction will have consequences.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe can\u2019t remain stagnant. We are a growing community and in order to keep up with that growth, which is great by the way, it\u2019s great, but we have to keep up with the growth in this county or public safety is going to fall behind.\u201d<\/p>\n
A recent state law provides grants to supplement salaries for rural law enforcement and district attorney\u2019s offices. Lubbock County falls at the cutoff threshold and is considered too large to receive those funds.<\/p>\n
\u201cI fear what this office will look like if they do not do anything this year,\u201d Stanek said. \u201cI fear what the sheriff\u2019s office will become if they do not do anything for them this year. I mean, I can\u2019t use this word enough. This is alarming.\u201d<\/p>\n
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