Prosecutor Pleads Case For Pay Hikes Tucker Wants To Boost Salaries To Halt Exodus

Higher pay is the only way to stop an exodus that is depleting the Spokane County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office of its most experienced lawyers, officials told county commissioners Tuesday.

Prosecutor Steve Tucker sent two of his representatives to the commissioners to ask for additional money to upgrade the salaries of up to five deputy prosecutors.

The commissioners’ reply: We’ll think about it.

Tucker’s office administrator, Debbie Kurbitz, and chief civil attorney, Jim Emacio, entreated commissioners during a 40-minute meeting to grant Tucker’s request. The prosecutor himself was in court Tuesday and unavailable to attend the meeting.

Kurbitz said the additional pay is necessary to keep Spokane County’s best attorneys from leaving for more lucrative jobs in the private sector elsewhere in the state.

Spokane County pays its deputy prosecutors less than any other county of its size in the state, Kurbitz said.

Three experienced deputy prosecutors have left for better-paying positions in Clark County this year and the average length of stay of criminal prosecutors in Spokane County is only about four years, she said.

Tucker would like to see that number closer to 12 years, Kurbitz said.

“We want them to stay,” Kurbitz said. “We want the ability to say, `You’re doing a good job. Here’s your reward.”’ The top end of the salary range for deputy prosecutors in Spokane County is just short of $53,000 per year, according to the county Human Resources Department.

Higher wages would also allow Spokane County to recruit experienced replacements for those who retire or leave for other reasons, she said.

Emacio agreed, saying the $30,000 total per year to cover the five raises would pay itself back in a more efficient staff. “By retaining people, they work harder and smarter,” he said.

Commissioner Phil Harris wasn’t impressed.

Harris pointed out that turnover is high in many professions, despite the pay. People should stay with the county because they love their work and the Spokane area, he added.

“I have no intention of being the highest-paying county in the state,” he said. “We’re not going to pay just to keep people.”

Harris appears to be in the minority, however.

Commissioners John Roskelley and Kate McCaslin said they were sympathetic to Tucker’s situation and may be willing to support his requests.

But they expressed reservations about appropriating the salary increases outside the normal budgeting process, which is slated to begin next month.

“We want to keep and retain these people who are important to us,” Roskelley said. “But we need to wait until the budget session comes around.”

McCaslin asked that Kurbitz assign the raises a very high priority in the prosecutor’s 2001 budget request.

“I think you make a really good case, but I want to see how it compares in the big picture,” McCaslin said.