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Mayor Urges Cutting City Lawyers' Jobs
April 23, 2008
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
By Eric Stirgus
Agencies to shrink: Budgets for solicitor's, public defender's offices may be trimmed 60 percent under plan.
Atlanta Mayor Shirley Franklin's staff wants to eliminate most of the jobs in the solicitor and public defender offices and cut their budgets by up to 60 percent — an idea some City Council members oppose.
The solicitor's office staff would be reduced 72 percent, from 54 employees to 15, according to documents obtained Tuesday by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. The public defender's office would be reduced 61 percent, from 28 to 11 employees.
The city also wants to place the solicitor's office — which prosecutes misdemeanor drug possession, traffic and code enforcement cases — under the city's law department.
Atlanta's law department represents the city in lawsuits and gives advice to the mayor and the City Council. The law department does not prosecute criminal cases.
The cuts are part of the city's overall plan to reduce spending. Mayor Shirley Franklin and her aides expect they'll have to cut spending by about $140 million to balance the 12 month budget that begins July 1. Franklin's staff is considering 25 percent cuts to most city departments. The cuts to the solicitor and public defender budgets would reduce the city's judicial budget from $16.9 million to $11.9 million, a 30 percent drop.
Attorneys are the bulk of the employee positions being considered for elimination.
"The question we have to ask ourselves is how do we deal with crime in our city [if the cuts are made]," said Councilman H. Lamar Willis, who recently met with some attorneys in the solicitor's office worried about their jobs.
Public defender Candace Byrd said her office will have represented indigent clients in about 21,000 cases for the 12-month period that ends June 30. If the cuts are approved, the number of attorneys on her staff will drop from 20 to 7. Byrd said it will be tough for her office to handle its caseload and to layoff some attorneys.
"You work with these people and they are a great group of professionals," she said. "It's an unfortunate situation that because of the city's budget difficulties, we have to take our share to [balance the budget]."
Solicitor Raines Carter said his office handled about 200,000 cases two years ago, which was the most recent data available Tuesday. Carter said in a statement that his office plays an important role in keeping Atlanta safe and needs an appropriate number of attorneys to do its job.
Willis fears putting the solicitor's office under the law department will place attorneys in danger of being ordered by the mayor's office not to prosecute a case.
"You may have the executive branch exercising undue influence," said Willis, an attorney who does some criminal defense work.
Councilman C.T. Martin said he's worried the cuts will hurt the city's ability to provide defendants due process.
"[The city] is trying to destroy what is supposed to be the third branch of government," Martin said in an interview.
City Attorney Elizabeth Chandler, who runs Atlanta's law department, told Martin during Monday's City Council meeting that "confidentiality obligations" prevented her from discussing any possible changes. She declined comment Tuesday.
Franklin told reporters Monday she is planning to consolidate some services but declined to discuss her plans. The mayor plans to give her proposed budget to some council members May 1. |
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