Prosecutor Mahoney briefs council on budget, investigator role and case-related costs

The council heard from Prosecutor Mahoney about the office's proposed budget and staffing needs. Mahoney explained that long-tenured employees and recent staffing changes affected longevity calculations and that depositions and related miscellaneous costs had grown, prompting a substantive line-item increase.

"We that's correct. We there's a we have a deputy prosecutor who's been here for, who's been here for years and, they have, she she's still with the office. She's just she's been a she's the Republican candidate for judge in Hancock County," Mahoney said while explaining why some positions were treated differently in the proposed numbers. Council members also discussed an outside evaluation from Wagner, Arun & Shealy suggesting the investigator position may be misclassified and could be upgraded to a chief investigator; members asked the prosecutor and audit staff to circulate the report and to consider reconstituting a job-classification committee for follow-up.

No funding decision to immediately reclassify or add new full-time staff was finalized during the session; the prosecutor asked to have the materials scanned and emailed to the council for further consideration before any appropriation or reclassification action.