The County District Attorney’s Office is getting a sizable grant that will help pay for a Deputy D.A. prosecutor for the next 3 years and also give the D.A. someone to work directly with the U.S Attorney’s Office on federal criminal cases.
D.A. Dan Dow asked Supervisors at their Oct. 20 meeting to retroactively approve his applying for a 2026 Special Attorneys Program grant for $726,000 and covering the period from Sept. 1, 2026, through Aug. 31, 2029.
Coming through the Federal Government’s Bureau of Justice Assistance or BJA, the grant offsets the cost of one-half (0.50 full time equivalent) of the salary and benefits of an existing Deputy District Attorney IV position for three years, Dow’s report to Supervisors said.
That prosecutor will also carry the title of “Special Assistant United States Attorney,” the report said, “and will spend half of their time on cases handled in coordination with the United States Attorney’s Office. The other half of the position will remain on the District Attorney’s Office regular caseload. No new attorney position is needed, and the grant does not require a local match.”
Under a memorandum of understanding covering the grant and program, the position will be assisting the U.S. Attorney’s Office with cases involving federal crimes like “fraud, human trafficking, narcotics trafficking, gang-related crimes, and environmental crimes,” the report explained. “The MOU specifically prohibits the SAUSA from working on immigration matters or cases.”
The grant is also being used to pay for an added full-time paralegal position at a total cost of $465,000 over the 3 years. The report said these costs would come out of the money the County is saving by having the grant pay for half the Deputy D.A.’s costs.
So in essence, the grant is a reimbursement to the County for someone who is already on the payroll in exchange for an added title and responsibility to work with Federal prosecutors. It’s also a way to eat into what the D.A. said was an ever-growing workload.
“The paralegal,” the report said, “will support attorney caseloads and help the office absorb the exponential increase in paralegal work over the last 12 years.”
When the grant money runs out, the County will have to decide whether to continue with the paralegal position funded through the grant, or end the limited term contract.
In a budget included with the report, the half-time Deputy D.A. position takes up $510,000 of the $726,000 total grant over the 3 years, saving a like amount from the County’s General Fund, where the D.A.’s budget comes out of.
The remainder, plus the savings is being used to cover the new paralegal’s costs.
