DETROIT – Wayne County Executive Warren C. Evans and Prosecutor Kym Worthy applauded the County Commission for approving a $1.5 million retention plan on Thursday, which aims to help ensure experienced attorneys continue working on behalf of Wayne County residents and crime victims.

“It’s tough to keep good people when you can’t pay them competitively,” Evans said. “And that’s a constant challenge for all governments. But Wayne County’s fiscal crisis exacerbated that problem and we are still feeling the effects. While this won’t address the entire issue, it’s a step in the right direction. As the county gets on more fiscally sound footing, we’ll make investments where we can in the talent needed to better serve our residents.”

About half of the money will go directly to giving assistant prosecuting attorneys longevity pay based upon their job classifications.

According to a Feb. 7 press release, attorneys are hard to retain because they are overworked due to lack of staff. Some of the funds will be used to hire eight new attorneys. 

The remainder will be used for merit bonuses, which will be awarded to 15 assistant prosecuting attorneys based on an application process open to all APAs with three years of experience or more.

“Our assistant prosecutors are leaving my office, and not because they want to leave,” Worthy said. “As that happens the citizens of the county lose out. Our attorneys are highly skilled and have the toughest and heaviest caseloads in the state and they deserve to be compensated as such. We must keep this skill set and I applaud the county executive and commission for their partnership in this effort.”

Despite earning salaries of $10,000-$30,000 less than comparable prosecutors in neighboring counties, Wayne County’s APAs are responsible for 41 percent of felony trials in Michigan’s urban counties.

In comparison, Oakland and Macomb combined account for just 13 percent of felony trials in Michigan’s urban counties according to data compiled by the Prosecutor’s Office.

“A lot of attorneys come to Wayne County and earn invaluable experience on some of the highest profile cases in the country and then move away to a neighboring county where they can earn a lot more for less work,” Worthy said. “Over time that has dramatically impacted our ability to keep experienced prosecutors.”

According to data compiled by the prosecutor, the average Wayne County APA made $157,000 less than their Macomb County counterpart over the 10-year period between 2004 and 2013.

As a result, roughly 50 percent of Wayne County’s APAs have three years of experience or less as the office has become a training ground for other counties as well as the state and federal governments. 

The Wayne County Prosecutor’s Office and the Wayne County Government Bar Association agreed to the terms of a memorandum of agreement outlining the retention plan on January 3.

Evan’s office agreed to the terms on January 4 before submitting them to the County Commission for its consideration.