At January’s Law Enforcement and Judiciary Committee meeting District Attorney Michael Albrecht gave our committee a presentation on why he wants additional legal assistants in his office. I will try to explain his argument in a shorter version than he provided us.

The number of felonies in Sauk County in 1998 were 328. In 2021 there were 811 cases. That is an increase of 147%. We are only looking at felony cases because these are the cases that take the most time for both the attorneys and the legal assistants. The number of legal assistants in 1998 was 5 and remains the same today. Ideally the number of assistants would be the same as attorneys. However, the state offers no formula to determine how many legal assistants there should be. The last time there was an increase in legal assistants’ positions was in 1997. The state uses a formula to determine how many attorneys there should be in every county District Attorney’s office. While there have been increases over the years in the number of attorneys, that amount still falls short of the county’s need. So, while there is a need for more attorneys, the overworked attorneys rely on legal assistants to perform more of their duties, such as legal drafting.  

So, the first point is that while there has been an increase in attorneys there has not been a corresponding increase in legal assistants. The second point is that the services that the legal assistants provide have become more complex over the last 10 years. Just consider how evidence has expanded in terms of digital evidence from body cameras, security cameras, phones, texts, emails, computers. Besides the collection and review of these materials, legal staff have to sort, digitize and often file required reports to the state or federal government. The third point is that Sauk County is in a unique spot where our population doesn’t support additional staff based on the state’s formula. We have a higher-than-average caseload due to the influx of tourists in our county. Wisconsin Dells and Devil’s Lake State Park draw a large volume of tourists that result in higher-than-normal crimes. To put it another way, if Sauk County added the number of tourists to our current resident population, the state’s formula for how many staff should be in our District Attorney’s office would provide us with more staff.

The district attorney has been asking for an additional assistant for years. He was rebuffed going into the pandemic due to the sharp decrease in sales tax revenue. However, his workload has not decreased. At the end of this argument there is the notion that when the District Attorney’s office can’t handle the caseload, mistakes get made and some cases can’t be pursued. That is to say public safety is put in jeopardy.

I am of the opinion that with the sales tax we get from Wisconsin Dells as a big tourist destination, we also have responsibilities. Our sales tax revenue provides us with more money in our budget than in most counties. But that sales tax, which comes from the tourists, has some negative consequences. Crime is one consequence. In this case those sales tax dollars should go towards alleviating the consequences.

As always, any opinions expressed here are my opinions and do not represent the Sauk County Board.