County to Pay for Lawyers’ Experience

Ventura County officials have backed off their insistence that the salary for prosecutors and public defenders not reflect the experience they gained during a one-year pay freeze for all county employees, attorneys said Friday.

Although it remains unresolved whether about 30 county attorneys must return money they were mistakenly paid over the past few months, in the future they will receive salary increases based on their full experience, said Douglas Daily, president of the Deputy Public Defenders Assn.

“The county has substantially changed their position,” Daily said. “They’re being reasonable.”

County officials said last week that certain prosecutors and public defenders had circumvented a county pay freeze and received improper merit raises.

The attorneys reacted angrily at being told that not only were they not entitled to the raises, but their next permissible salary increase would not reflect the year of experience they gained when the freeze was in effect.

Prosecutors and public defenders are paid between $32,000 and $69,000 a year, depending on their years of experience.

County Personnel Director Ronald W. Komers, in a meeting Thursday with representatives of the district attorney and public defender’s offices, changed his earlier stance, the attorneys said.

“Essentially, you’ll be paid for your experience and you’ll not be penalized because of the freeze,” Deputy Dist. Atty. Brian S. Rafelson said.

Komers could not be reached for comment.

The raise issue was the latest dispute between the attorneys and the county. This week, deputy prosecutors and public defenders voted to form their own union.

The main dispute, the attorneys say, is that they are paid substantially less than government attorneys in comparable counties in the state.