WICHITA, Kan. (KSNW) – The Sedgwick County District Attorney’s office is short lawyers and has been for years. On Wednesday, county commissioners approved a more than 7% raise for those attorneys.
The raise is changing the minimum starting salary for an entry-level attorney at the DA’s office from $74,000 to $80,000.
The Sedgwick County DA hopes it will help bolster his strained workforce and make the county more of a contender when it comes to recruitment.
For the past few years, the Sedgwick County DA’s office has been struggling with a lack of staff.
“We’ve been able to address the issues in other ways by keeping special dockets, by allocating our resources to attend to the issues that we’re dealing with, but it’s not sustainable long term,” said Sedgwick County District Attorney Marc Bennett.
The office has always struggled with high turnover.
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“We’ve always been able to have people waiting in the wings, and pass the bar, and come in, and replace them within short order,” Bennett said. “It’s been tougher the last four or five years.”