Dave Young, the new district attorney-elect for Adams and Broomfield counties, may be receiving a bigger paycheck over the next few years.
The Adams County commissioners considered a set of proposals posited by Young during a Dec. 3 study session that laid out two specific compensation options: A starting rate of $192,027 with a 4 percent annual increase over the next four years or a flat $203,859 rate with no annual increase.
Young said current DA Don Quick received $184,641 in compensation this year that accompanied a 5 percent annual increase.
Current laws require district attorneys in all of the state’s 22 judicial districts to receive a minimum compensation of $130,000. About 80 percent of that amount or $104,000 is paid out by the state leaving any remaining compensation to be covered by individual counties.
Of the 20 percent left in the DA’s salary, Adams County pays about 90 percent, while Broomfield County pays the remaining 10 percent.
Young said his salary proposal is in line with the amount of crimes and case filings facing the DA’s office.
Last year alone, he said, the county ranked among the top three counties in the state for the number of individual court filings received, including 4,156 felony court, 37,540 county court and more than 3,000 driving under the influence filings.
The proposed salary increase also comes on the heels of efforts to improve programs and initiatives spearheaded by the DA’s office. These proposed efforts include increasing elder abuse reporting, creating a mental health court and economic crime unit.
Young said the increased volume and complexity of some cases — such as the multiyear Quality Paving and Quality Resurfacing scandal — is making it increasingly difficult for the 160 DA office staffers to thoroughly process and investigate all incoming cases.
“I think they could be better investigated and that’s what we’re at failing now, because we don’t have the resources to investigate,” Young said. “It’s easy to say, ‘It’s a civil issue and not a criminal issue,’ but unless you get your feet in the water and investigate it, you’re really not going to know that. I think there’s an expectation of us to do more than just looking at it that way, but when you don’t have the investigators out there to go and do the leg work, it’s hard to do that.”
The compensation option selected by the county commissioners will be built into the district attorney’s office budget for the upcoming fiscal year and considered for adoption some time within the next two weeks.