Voters to decide on full-time prosecutor

By MIKE McCOY

Statesman Staff Writer

Stoddard County voters will be asked to decide whether the county should have a full-time prosecutor on the Nov. 6 general election ballot. The measure will appear on the ballot as Proposition One as submitted by the Stoddard County Commission. The county currently has a part-time prosecutor and an assistant prosecutor. If voters approve making the position full time, the change would take place in January after the next election for prosecutor.

Stoddard County has the largest population of any county in Southeast Missouri that employs a part-time prosecutor. Other area counties with part-time prosecutors are Bollinger, Perry, Wayne, Madison, Iron, Reynolds, Carter and Ripley counties. Dunklin, Pemiscot, New Madrid, Mississippi, Scott, Cape Girardeau and Butler Counties all have a full-time prosecutor.

Prosecutor Russ Oliver was elected in 2010 and took office in January 2011. The salary for the part-time position is $55,750, plus benefits. The salary would increase to $109,366 if the ballot measure is passed by voters. The total cost to taxpayers for making the position full time would be $66,776.36 above the current level. Of those increases, $53,616 would be for an increased salary, $5,252 would be in increased payments into the Missouri Local Government Employees Retirement System (LAGERS), $3,8906.74 would be for payments into the Missouri Prosecuting Attorney and Circuit Retirement System, and $4,101.62 would be in increased Social Security payments.

When asked whether the assistant prosecutor would be retained if the prosecutor position is made full time, Presiding Commissioner Greg Mathis said the decision would be "made by the commission" during the budget process prior to the prosecuting attorney position becoming full time.

Andrew Rehmer now serves as assistant prosecutor in Stoddard County. He is paid $35,000 annually, plus all benefits. The assistant prosecutor position was created by the commission in July 2008. The first attorney to serve in that position was Rance Butler. He served under former Prosecutor Briney Welborn. Welborn was defeated by Oliver in the 2010 election. Butler resigned in November after the 2010 election.

Oliver pointed to the number of criminal cases handled in Stoddard County as a reason for making the position full time. Oliver presented a case to make the office a full-time position early this year when House Bill 1856 was introduced in the legislature. The bill dealt with the process for changing a county prosecutor from part-time to full-time and would have changed the time frame for the increased salary so that it would have taken effect at the start of 2011. HB 1856 never advanced to the full House. Under current statute, the county can make the prosecutor a full time position by a vote of the registered voters in the county. The issue could have been placed on the ballot by a vote of the commission, or by a petition signed by 10 percent of the voters in the previous general election. In this case, it was a vote of the commission.

In a special meeting held March 2, 2012, the commission did not choose to put the measure on the ballot. Jarrell made a motion to do so, but it died for lack of a second from either Mathis or Sifford. In August this year, Mathis changed his stance. The measure to put the issue on the ballot was approved at that time with Sifford still voting against it. Mathis said he felt it was an issue for the voters to decide. He said he originally opposed it because the increased salary would have gone into effect at the beginning of 2011. He said under the current proposition, all candidates who file for the office would know the salary before the election.

Statistics for criminal caseloads by county are available from the Office of the Supreme Court of Missouri website under its Annual Judicial Report. The statistics for 2011 are cited in this story. (Only those for criminal cases that were filed are cited here, with felonies and associated felonies as one category and misdemeanors as the other category.)

Stoddard County ranks at the top in total number of criminal cases for these categories with 2,333 for 2011. However, the county does not rank at the top in terms of felonies in 2011. The county had 861 felonies filed. Scott County led in that category with 1,644 while Dunklin County was second with 1,360. Stoddard County had by far the most misdemeanor cases in 2011 with 1,472. The second largest number of misdemeanor cases was in Butler County with 1,104.

Following are 2011 statistics for some area counties, with the first number representing felonies, the second misdemeanors and the third the total of the two: (part-time prosecutor as listed as PT)

Stoddard County - 861, 1,472 and 2,333,

Dunklin County - 1,360, 898 and 2,258,

New Madrid County - 685, 972 and 1,657,

Pemiscot County - 876, 967 and 1,843,

Mississippi County - 713, 530 and 1, 243,

Butler County - 1,118, 1,104 and 2, 222,

Scott County - 1,644, 827 and 2,471,

Bollinger County (PT) - 221, 242 and 463,

Perry County (PT) - 433, 488 and 921,

Wayne County (PT) - 353, 552 and 905,

Reynolds County (PT) - 128, 365 and 493.