Small increase in county attorney fee

Members of the Taylor County executive committee made quick work of a short agenda Monday morning as they kicked off a series of county meetings.

Committee members reviewed and approved the annual contract with attorney Courtney Graff to serve as corporation counsel for the county. The major change in the contract was a $170 per month increase in fees.

Graff, who appeared via Zoom, noted she has not asked for an increase for the past three years and in that time she has seen her operational costs go up.

County human resources director Marie Koerner, also noted that department heads are also consulting with Graff on a more frequent basis. She said zoning in particular has been very active in consulting with the attorney. Overall, the county budget for attorneys including both the corporation counsel and other legal counsels is projected to have a 9.5% increase from 2021 to 2021.

Graff noted that in addition to needing more legal work, there is a growing trend of people fighting cases including in the human services area. “I had more jury trials last year than in the last 9 years combined,” Graff said.

She gave the example of her legal partner who handles the human services portion of the county caseload needing to have a one day jury trial with eight days of preparatory work. She said even then on the day of the jury trial not enough jurors showed up and the deputies had to pull people off the street to serve in the jury.

In addition to the corporation counsel budget, committee members also reviewed and approved the budget for the child support agency. Due to changes in state reimbursements to the county, the amount needed from the local tax levy to run the department is increasing.