PORT ANGELES — Clallam County is preparing to increase spending on indigent defense, with a new contract boosting funding as tighter workload limits take effect.
Under the proposal, the county would pay the Clallam Public Defender just over 2-point-3 million dollars this year — a roughly three percent increase, according to county CFO Mark Lane.
“Happy to report that where we ended up on this contract ended up fitting in slightly below the placeholder amount that we had in our 2026 budget. So it’s about thirty-one thousand dollars less than anticipated in the budget, so no budget change,” said Lane.
Officials say the increase helps keep public defender pay in line with prosecutors, while also meeting new case-weighting and caseload standards that limit how many cases attorneys can handle.
Public Defender Director Harry Gasnick says current staffing should meet demand under those new limits — if case filings hold steady and positions remain filled.
“Our contracted staff and levels should be able to meet the overall needs of the county, assuming filing and charging levels remain the same. That, of course, assumes that we’re able to maintain full staff — and I lost an employee, tomorrow is the last day,” said Gasnick.
If approved, the contract would run through the end of the year and apply retroactively to January first. It also allows the county to revisit the agreement if caseloads shift, giving flexibility to adjust staffing if needed.