State Public Defender Michael Barrett last week accused Gov. Jay Nixon of failing to support the public defender system "that continues to rank 49th in the U.S., with a budget that the consumer price index indicates has less value now than it did in 2009."
That's the year Nixon began serving as Missouri's governor.
In a letter to Nixon, Barrett complained the governor's recent withholding of $3.5 million was a larger hit than any other state agency received.
"I can only hire attorneys when I have the funding to do so," Barrett wrote. "Because you have restricted that funding, MSPD (the Missouri State Public Defender system) must hold a significant number of vacant positions open to have the necessary funds to make it through the fiscal year."
Nixon said last week and repeated during a brief news conference Monday: "In my budget in difficult years, we have upped by over 15 percent the amount of investment we've made there.
"It's also important to note that they lapsed over $1.8 million in their budget last year - but we gave them an additional million dollars already here early in the fiscal year."
Not so, countered Barrett Tuesday afternoon.
"The Public Defender's balance in July of 2016 shows that a total of (52 cents) remained in MSPD's General Revenue balance sheet for Fiscal Year 2016," Barrett reported. "What the governor is mistakenly referring to is not available cash but rather the appropriation authority for certain accounts, the largest of which is the Legal Defense and Defender Fund (LDDF)."
That fund, Barrett noted, gets its money "through collections of fees paid by clients. The funding that goes into this account is used to fund training and one-time purchases such as computers, copiers and office moves" and is not used for the system's job of representing poor people charged with crimes where the possible punishment includes jail or prison time.
He said lawmakers last year authorized that fund to spent up to $2.983 million - if it received that much money.
"However, MSPD only received $1.362 million in the LDDF account" for the 2015-16 business year that ended June 30, Barrett reported. "The $1.8 million is the difference between the funding authority for these accounts and the actual amount spent."
As for that more than 15 percent revenue growth in the eight budgets Nixon's administration has proposed, Barrett said: "The governor's statement represents all funding, including a significant amount appropriated to MSPD for purposes other than hiring attorneys to deliver legal services.
"For instance, the governor includes this year's 2 percent increase in salary for all state employees, despite the fact that this in no way translates into more resources to fulfill MSPD's core function."
Barrett said the increases in the "resources that assist with delivering legal services" only have been about 5-6 percent since 2009.
"However," Barrett added, "during this same period, MSPD's costs" for expert witnesses, taking depositions and preparing for trials "have increased approximately 18 percent.
"And, just over the last year, the number of cases has increased 12 percent, from approximately 74,000 to 82,000."
He noted the American Bar Association in 2014 released a report indicating "MSPD needed more than 250 additional attorneys, (but) only 10 new positions were created since 2009. However, because of increased costs, MSPD was unable to fund 30 positions during the prior fiscal year."
State budget records show, in 2009, the public defender system was authorized to have the equivalent of 572 full-time employees, but actually had only 563 people working as lawyers and other staff.
In the 2014-15 budget year, the system was authorized for 587 FTE, but employed only 582.
"A lot of people claim to be underfunded, but frankly, when you're in a government that I've had to downsize by over 5,100 positions and you're an agency that has received a 15 percent increase," Nixon said, "I think we're at the point now they ought to make sure they're getting the most efficiency they can out of the dollars they have."