State Attorney Monique Worrell shared the results of a 15-week audit Thursday following a case backlog and budget deficit of $850,000 dollars.
Worrell said an internal audit found crushing case loads with almost 5,800 open cases with only 12 felony attorneys working those cases.
It also found high turnover in the office, 28% of people hired last year had already left. The report identified some of the lowest starting salaries for attorneys in the state. The average starting salary in the prosecutor’s office for attorneys is $68,000 a year.
Worrell said things need to change, and they will, with the help of a five-year implementation plan, based on the audit’s findings.
“The recommendations are that we restructure management, modernize our case management system and automate tasks, standardize pay and implement a merit-based pay structure that's tied to experience and performance, expand staffing, increase personnel and office resources,” said Worrell.
She said this plan is already in place, and includes things like improved career development and mentorship for young lawyers.
“We are in the process of developing a career development program that will allow us to retain lawyers, to train them more, to help them feel more comfortable in the building and with their roles and what they're doing, and that will provide them with increases based on their level of experience,” said Worrell.
But Worrell also blamed the legislature for underfunding the office. Even though her office serves one of the largest populations in the state, it only receives a budget of $36.5 million from the legislature.
“I am saying that the State Attorney's Office is every bit a part of law enforcement, and when the legislature says that they are going to fund law enforcement, but they fail to fund the State Attorney's Office, then they are not funding all of law enforcement,” she said. “Our local law enforcement officers have a starting salary on average that is the same as a starting assistant state attorney. Assistant state attorneys not only have to go to college, but they also have to go through law school. They often come here with an extreme amount of student loan debt. Law enforcement officers are able to quickly make up that gap, on average, by doing just 10 hours of overtime per week with the case loads.”
The update also included some good news from the office. With the help of attorneys on loan from the state, Worrell’s office has reduced the non-arrest case backlog by more than 20%. In April there were 13,670 open non-arrest cases. And now there are only 10,687 cases that still need to be processed.
Worrell was removed by Governor Ron DeSantis in 2023 for “neglect of duty and incompetence,” but was re-elected to the same office.
