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Circuit Court, public defense costs are borne by the State and jail costs are borne by Lane County. Fine revenue for misdemeanors is extremely low, averaging less than $100 per case, and cannot be considered an offset to the additional costs that would be incurred by the City. Misdemeanor case filings in Municipal Court have increased steadily for the past four years (Attachment B). Additionally, police officer positions were added in the FY05 budget with no increase in court staff to manage the cases these officers will generate. As described in the June 30 memorandum to the Mayor and City Council, the Court and Prosecutor's Office have implemented numerous efficiencies in order to keep pace with the workload and minimize the need for budget increases. A workload increase of the magnitude represented by this option cannot be absorbed; additional staff and contract resources would be required. Additional time would be required to develop a full analysis of the financial impact of this decision. A rough estimate of costs to implement Option 2 is provided to help illustrate the scope of this option: On-going Expenditures Estimate (FY06 Dollars) City Prosecutor Office $ 53,000 Judicial contracts 28,080 Public defense contract 39,493 Court staff 29,433 Jail space contract 58,854 TOTAL ON-GOING: $208,860 One-time Expenditures Court materials and supplies $ 5,000 TOTAL ON-GOING AND ONE-TIME: $213,860 Option 3 - Modified INcrease in Prosecution Service (Minimal Financial Impact) This option has the City adopting some but not all of the misdemeanor offenses from the DA's "No File" List, which would allow the City to prosecute some of the more critical cases based on community impact. By adopting into Chapter 4 of the Eugene Code the offenses of Unlawful Entry into a Motor Vehicle, Possession of Burglary Tool, Telephonic Harassment, Theft 2, Theft 3, and Failing to Report as a Sex Offender, staff estimates 400 to 450 additional misdemeanors could be prosecuted in Eugene Municipal Court. This number represents more than half of the cases from the DA's "No File" List. IN order to mitigate the impact of this additional workload, the City Prosecutor would more critically review, on a case-by-case basis, the lesser offenses to reduce the misdemeanor charges to violations. The number of cases reduced from misdemeanor to violation would significantly increase. An officer's ability to arrest someone on the misdemeanor charge and to remove them from the scene of a crime would be retained, but if the prosecutor reduces the charge, the person would be released from jail. No additional public defense, jail space, judicial or court costs would be incurred. Staff work would be added to the City Prosecutor's Office, but very little additional attorney costs would be incurred. The types of offenses where cases are currently reduced from misdemeanor to violation are: Criminal Trespass 2, Consumption of Alcohol on Unlicensed Premise/Open Container, and Violation of Park Rules. Attachment B shows the number of these cases in Municipal Court and how often these cases are currently reduced to violations. With Option 3, cases in these crime categories, as well as other low- L:\CMO\2005 Council Agendas\M050725\S0507253.doc