Staff recommends that the City Attorney Department proposed budget for FY 2021 be approved by the Council as part of the overall FY 2021 budget approval process for the City.

The City Attorney department provides both criminal and civil legal services. The office prosecutes criminal misdemeanor offenses committed within the City boundaries which are in violation of the Montana Code Annotated (MCA) and Billings City Code (BMCC). Most of these offenses are punishable by up to the maximum of a $500 fine and/or six months in jail. The Criminal Division also assists as needed with Municipal Infractions issued by the Billings Police Department. 

The Civil Division works on many issues providing research and written and verbal advice and guidance to the Mayor, Council, City Administrator and Departments on numerous, specialized legal topics specific to municipalities. The civil attorneys also  handle or assist in civil litigation, Code Enforcement and review and fulfill numerous public records requests. Most proposed ordinances and resolutions, binding legal documents such as contracts, collective bargaining agreements, MOUs and similar documents are reviewed or prepared by the Civil Division. Land use issues also continue to be a significant worklaod for this Division.

Although the City Attorney Department is primarily funded through the General Fund, it also receives funds from the Montana Board of Crime Control (MBCC) for a Domestic Violence grant, and from statutory surcharges in criminal misdemeanor cases as required in Montana Code Annotated 46-18-236(7). As with other General Fund departments the City Attorney Department does not directly generate income or fees; however, it does substantially contribute to the fines collected by Municipal Court as part of misdemeanor criminal prosecutions.

For Fiscal Year 2021 the proposed Department budget is $2,407,815 for personal services (salary and benefits) and O&M.This is an increase of $210,642 from FY 2020. Most of this increase (70 %) is from the proposed additional Municipal Court prosecutor postilion and related one time and ongoing expenses supporting that position as requested by the department and recommended by the City Administrator. The remaining increase from FY 2020 is from several sources including internal O&M charges, State Bar dues, technical training and education tuition, travel for committee testimony in the 2021 Montana legislative session and COLA as explained in the attached budget narrative. The additional, fifth prosecutor position that has been requested is crucial since the current caseload per prosecutor is simply unsustainable as has been discussed with the Mayor and Council during numerous public safety mill levy discussions over the past several months. This caseload is briefly explained in the attached PowerPoint (PPT) presentation. For comparison, Missoula now has six City Attorney prosecutors, Bozeman has four prosecutors and the local Office of Public Defender (OPD) has six defense attorneys assigned to defending misdemeanor cases in Billings Municipal Court.

The Domestic Violence grant which has been renewed each year for over twenty years is also a critical funding source for a very important public safety program within the Department. The Domestic Violence (DV) Unit within the Criminal Division consists of a specialized DV prosecutor, two Victim/Witness Specialists and a part time Legal Assistant. This year the Department requested and has received preliminary approval for a $90,000 grant from the MBCC (as pass through grant from the National Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) to fund portions of the DV Unit staff. This is a modest increase over the $88,000 requested in FY 20. For over twenty years the City has funded the remaining portion of the DV unit as a local grant match to the MBCC/VAWA grant.

The alternative to the proposed FY 21 City Attorney Department budget would primarily be to eliminate the additional fifth prosecutor position currently recommended and included in the Department budget. No attorney positions have been added to the Department since 2007. Elimination of this position from the FY 21 budget will result in substantial continuing challenges for an already overburdened Criminal Division. Retaining this additional proposed position will reduce the per prosecutor caseload however that caseload will still remain above informal American bar Association recommendations for misdemeanor caseloads.The caseloads and the impact of an additional fifth prosecutor are also addressed in the attached PPT.

The General Fund will provide approximately 93.5 % of the proposed FY 21 budget for the City Attorney department with the remaining 6.5 % from a MBCC VAWA DV grant (4%) and state statutory misdemeanor surcharges (2.5%).