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Luzerne County District Attorney Stefanie Salavantis is seeking a $216,750 budget increase next year, largely due to two pending capital cases, she told county council during her budget presentation Monday.
Overall, the proposed budget earmarks $4.6 million for the office.
Under the proposal, the allocation for capital cases would increase from $10,000 to $110,000.
The office is seeking the death penalty against 52-year-old Joseph John Marchetti and Anthony Spudis, 36, citing the severity of their alleged crimes.
Marchetti is accused of beating and then shooting his girlfriend, Antoinette Wilkinson, 46, at their Foster Township home in January. Prosecutors also say Marchetti beat Wilkinson’s mother, Barbara Wilkinson, 72, with a lead-filled club, then dragged her into the room where her daughter lay before shooting himself in the face. The younger woman passed away as a result of the attack.
Spudis faces criminal homicide, burglary and robbery charges for allegedly breaking into 97-year-old Gertrude Price’s Nanticoke home in 2013 and stabbing her several times in the head when she confronted him.
Salavantis also is requesting a $40,000 increase for “examinations and witnesses” in 2019, for a new total $130,000, to cover expenses to bring homicides and other cases to trial.
The district attorney had requested $130,000 for 2018, but council ended up reducing that allocation to $90,000, saying Salavantis could return to council seeking additional funding from the budget reserve if needed.
Council members had embraced this reserve option in the 2018 budget to cut back on departments transferring available funds to cover overages in other areas.
However, Salavantis has argued it is not feasible for her office because she cannot properly justify proposed expenses to council due to the confidentiality of pending investigations and prosecutions.
Salavantis told council Monday her office already has spent $118,508 this year. She was able to cover the overspending with one-time funding but said that revenue won’t be available in 2019. The office will have a “major problem” processing and investigating cases without the increase, she said.
Opioid position
In addition to the elected district attorney, the office budget covers 69 positions — 60 union and nine non-union. Assistant district attorneys, detectives and support staffers are unionized.
Salavantis eliminated two union positions in 2018 but created a $32,000 non-union opioid outreach coordinator position, for a net reduction of one employee.
The salary for the opioid outreach coordinator is partially covered by outside funding, she said. The coordinator will oversee the county’s Coalition to STOP Overdoses, working with other county departments, police and outside entities to raise awareness about the opioid epidemic, including stigma reduction, in an attempt to reduce drug fatalities, she said.
If a year-to-date trend continues, the county will meet or slightly exceed last year’s 155 overdose deaths, officials said. The 2017 number was the third consecutive year of a record high.
Some other office budget highlights:
• The proposed budget for wages is $446,684 for non-union and $2.8 million for union.
• A 25 percent overtime increase is requested, for a new total $60,000, largely for the investigation of serious crimes, said Salavantis. So far this year, $57,800 has been spent on overtime.
• The allocation for extraditions would rise from $5,000 to $7,500 under the proposal due to an increase in the need to transport offenders wanted on pending charges back to the county, she said.
Salavantis said she reviews cases closely to determine which extraditions will be funded because the county does not have the financial resources to transport all offenders. She expects approximately $7,400 will be spent this year.
The county’s proposed $140.9 million general fund operating budget seeks a 3 percent tax hike. Council is free to alter the proposal before final adoption, which is set for Dec. 11.