DA’s Office to reduce services following reduction in hours

GRANT COUNTY – Grant County District Attorney Jim Carpenter issued a press release. Beginning June 27, 2022, the District Attorney’s Office will be open from 8:00am, to 4:30pm, with a 1⁄2-hour closure at noon for lunch. The office will be closed on Fridays. The DA’s office was affected by the recent reduction in full-time employee hours. Additionally, the DA’s Office will no longer handle property tax foreclosure proceedings, monitor bench probation for the Justice and Circuit Courts, or enforce child support. The DA also had much to say regarding the court’s decision to reduce hours, citing unfairness. Find the DA’s words in the press release below:.

(Press Release issued by Grant County District Attorney Jim Carpenter)

Due to accounting errors and mismanagement of county resources, the Grant County Court has determined that all employees paid through the general fund, working at 40 hours per week, will be cut back to 32 hours per week.

These cuts are a big blow to those employees that do the most to provide services and have the least say in county finances. These cuts affect roughly 17 of the 90+ employees of the county. These cuts generally affect the departments with the smallest budgets. There is absolutely no fairness or sense to be made of this course of action.

The Grant County Circuit Court has recently added a treatment court, along with two new positions primarily dedicated to criminal matters. Also, the County Court, while making cuts to general fund departments, added two new patrol deputies and a civil deputy to the Sheriff’s Office. Meanwhile, my staff has been working at capacity. Cuts to their hours necessitate cuts to services that my office provides.

Beginning June 27, 2022, the District Attorney’s Office will be open from 8:00am, to 4:30pm, with a 1⁄2 hour closure at noon for lunch. The office will be closed on Friday.

Additionally, the DA’s Office will no longer handle property tax foreclosure proceedings, monitor bench probation for the Justice and Circuit Courts, or enforce child support. Other cuts to services may also be necessary, but have not yet been defined. The types of cases which will or will not be prosecuted may also be affected based on available resources.

This is an unfortunate circumstance. The county has been encouraged to get a competent outside expert to come in and audit the finances of the county to determine where mistakes have been made and what the county’s actual financial situation is. The county administration has been reticent to take action in this direction.

Jim Carpenter

Grant County District Attorney

Below is a press release issued on June 10th, 2022 by the Grant County Court:

(Press Release from the Grant County Court)

Due to Budget constraint within the General Fund, the County Offices within the Courthouse
will have a reduced schedule. All County Offices within the Courthouse will be open from 8 a.m. – 5 p.m., Monday through Thursday, until further notice. As always, special arrangements may
be made at the discretion of department heads to accommodate special requests for
appointment times. This will not affect the hours of Circuit Court or other state offices within
the building.

Grant County Judge Scott Myers later added this statement to the release:  “It will begin on Monday June 27^th, the first day of the July pay period.“

---

---

---

---

Elkhorn Media Group