TAMPA, Fla. — Hillsborough County State Attorney Susan Lopez is in Tallahassee this week, asking legislators for more money to support higher attorney salaries in her office and others across the state.
Florida is currently facing a prosecutor shortage, which includes 300 attorneys, as well as support staff and investigators.
What You Need To Know
- Hillsborough County State Attorney Susan Lopez is asking state legislators for additional funds for her office
- The idea is to raise salaries in the office to attract more prosecutors
- Office of the State Attorney: 13th Judicial Circuit
“Having gone through the pandemic, it is now possible for young lawyers with heavy amounts of debt to work from home,” State Attorney Lopez said. “They are able to make more money. They don’t necessarily want to be in the courtroom working every day.”
Last year, the Hillsborough County State Attorney’s Office prosecuted 40,000 cases, which included 93 jury trials, 12 of those murder trials.
Each prosecutor in Hillsborough handled hundreds of cases at a time and although there is no backlog in cases in Hillsborough County, State Attorney Lopez says if the state doesn’t take action to retain current prosecutors and attract new ones, the problem will probably get worse.
“The inflation rate in Hillsborough County is incredibly high. It’s about the highest in the country,” State Attorney Lopez said. "Rental prices. The housing market to buy. Very, very high. So, we just want to be competitive so that our assistant state attorneys will want to stay, will become life long prosecutors and again, that furthers our mission of promoting public safety.”
State Attorney Lopez is in Tallahassee this week with around a dozen other local prosecutors appealing to legislators for more salary funding.
She did not give Spectrum News an idea of what kind of raises she’d like prosecutors to see, only that salaries need to be “market competitive.”