County commissioners Tuesday approved sending a letter to Gov. Charlie Crist telling him the county will not pay rent for a regional conflict counsel office required by the state.
The county was informed last year it would have to find office space for the Office of Criminal Conflict and Civil Regional Counsel, which represents defendants when the public defender's office has a conflict, besides handling other cases. The county made space for the office at the County Administrative Complex, but later found out the office head already rented space downtown without telling the county.
In the letter, Commission Chair Joe Smith said the county spent about $2,600 readying the space for the attorneys and had no intention of spending additional money for rent. The estimated rental cost per year is about $38,400.
The governor's office previously told the county the regional conflict counsel decided the county space was not amenable to its needs, but county officials said they were never told this. The expense comes at a time when the county is attempting to trim millions from its budget in light of property tax reform and lower property tax revenue.
There are three comments to the article. I found the second one interesting. You can click on the link to the article, and then the link to comments at the bottom of the story.
1 comment:
The responses to the news article seem to be of the opinion that the County should provide or is obligated to provide office space for the RCC. They must not realize that the Supreme Court removed any obligation on the part of the Counties when it found that the RCC was not a Public Defender. I don't see how the Counties can be forced to provide space for the RCC. In my county, the RCC's closest office is two counties away. Clients have to call long distance and attorneys have to work out of their house or car. I guess that saves the tax payers money in the short run.
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