Two Wyoming Freedom Caucus members on Wednesday advanced measures to give prosecutors’ offices more money.
State Rep. Ken Pendergraft, R-Sheridan, asked his fellow purse-holders on the legislative Joint Appropriations Committee on Wednesday to put an extra $3 million into county and prosecuting attorneys’ salaries across the state for the years 2027-28.
That’s to increase the state’s share of county attorneys’ and deputy attorneys’ salaries, which in turn could help those offices attract more in-house deputy attorneys, said Pendergraft.
The successful request is now a tweak to what will become the second draft of Wyoming’s two-year budget.
More drafts will follow as the budget courses through both chambers of the legislature next month and undergoes negotiations and compromises before hitting the governor’s desk in March.
“It’s been brought to my attention by a number of folks there’s a bit of a lag in the pay for elected and assistant county attorneys,” Pendergraft told the committee.
This makes it difficult for elected prosecutors to attract deputy prosecutors, he said, causing more expense in the long run as they contract private attorneys for various cases.
“I feel this (increase) is a critical need in the counties — critical to their jobs,” said Pendergraft. “And hopefully (we can) save a little in the long run.”
Sen. Tim French, R-Powell, seconded the motion to revisit county attorneys’ budgets.
How We Roll
The state pays $50,000 or 50% of each of the 21 elected county attorneys’ salaries — whichever is less, state law says. The state pays $30,000 or 30% of deputy attorneys’ salaries, again, whichever is less.
Their respective counties cover the rest of their salaries. The county attorneys themselves are capped at a $160,000 salary, but their deputies aren’t under a cap, which can allow deputies to make more money than their bosses do.
Pendergraft cast the arrangement as outdated.
Rep. Trey Sherwood, D-Laramie, agreed with Pendergraft, which has not been common between the two this week.
“I do think it’s time for an adjustment,” she said with a sudden chuckle.
Part of the $3 million would increase the state’s infusion of each elected prosecutor’s salary by $44,000 over a two year cycle, said Pendergraft. The remainder, $2.07 million, would infuse an extra $26,549 of state money into each deputy’s salary over two years, Pendergraft said.
He stipulated that any overflow would be used to help those prosecutors’ offices.
Pendergraft said he’d like to bring a standalone bill to modernize prosecutors’ pay and perhaps tie an inflationary ladder to those figures so the legislature doesn’t have to revisit them every time they lag.
House Appropriations Chair John Bear, R-Gillette, voiced “some caution here," noting that the $3 million budget boost would expire after two years if Pendergraft’s standalone bill doesn’t pass.
Sen. Dan Laursen, R-Powell, said a $3 million increase “is too big for me.”
The committee approved Pendergraft’s motion.
Here You Go Casper
Rep. Bill Allemand, R-Midwest, advanced a provision to give the Natrona County District Attorney $266,572 over the course of the two-year budget for one attorney, and $182,017 (for a total of $448,589) over that same timeframe for a legal assistant – an ask that the committee had blocked earlier in its budget-planning session this week.
“So you’re wanting to restore the work of this committee where we denied that?” asked Bear.
Natrona County District Attorney Dan Itzen has “made a very good case of why he needs some help,” said Allemand. “After discussing it with him, I agree with him, that he does need some help.”
Two of Wyoming’s counties, Natrona and Laramie County, run their prosecutions through a District Attorney rather than a county attorney as the other 21 counties do.
Sherwood said that office has already received additional positions “from this body” but Itzen didn’t.
On voting to close out Itzen’s budget so that debate on this topic could end, 11 legislators voted aye and Bear alone voted no.
Neither Itzen nor Wyoming County and Prosecuting Attorney Association president Tucker Ruby responded immediately to requests for comment.
Clair McFarland can be reached at clair@cowboystatedaily.com.
