The Clark County Public Service Center in downtown Vancouver
Attorneys contracted by Clark County to defend those charged of crimes will get a raise this year as the council approved a budget amendment that increases their pay by 10%.
The county’s raise announcement noted that pay rates for those attorneys had not increased since 2009.
Clark County has sufficient General Fund balance to cover the increase, according to Clark County Manager Shawn Henessee. According to county staff, it will cost close to $180,000 through the end of 2019.
The increase was part of a supplemental budget amendment approved by the council June 4. Henessee recommended approval of 76 budget requests received from county departments related to maintaining service levels, infrastructure upkeep, revenue forecast updates, budget interventions and items with no impact on fund balance such as grants and technical adjustments.
The supplemental budget included $834,665 in general fund savings, according to county staff, which were a result of “thorough reviews” of departmental budgets.
“It’s important that we be good stewards and be as efficient as we can with county funds,” Henessee stated in the announcement.
The supplemental budget amendment included increases in all county funds for a total of $3.7 million in 2019 and $13.2 million for 2020; the total 2019 adopted county budget is $520 million.
