For the second time in about one month, the Mobile County District Attorney’s Office is getting a sizable subsidy from local taxpayers.

The Mobile County Commission voted Monday to move $1.5 million of their American Rescue Plan Act allocation to the District Attorney’s office to help with hiring additional prosecutors who would then assist in dwindling down a backlog of criminal cases. About one month ago, the Mobile City Council also voted to allocate $1.5 million to the office for the same reasons.

“I’m grateful for the county commission’s support and their trust in me and my office because we are going to use these funds to hire additional personnel to work through this backlog at an even faster rate than we already are so (the backlog) is a thing of the past,” said Mobile County District Attorney Keith Blackwood.

The allocations could come in one lump-sum payment, or it could be allocated over a three-year time period. The Mobile City Council’s payments are being allocated in $500,000 annual allotments over three years.

Blackwood said the combined additional funds will allow the District Attorney’s Office to hire “six to seven prosecutors.” He said the goal is to have a staff of 35 prosecutors, and to have at least two prosecutors positioned in every circuit courtroom within the county.

“This will do a tremendous amount for us in working through these cases and making sure every case is handled appropriately and responsibly and so we can seek justice for not only our victims and the accused, but for our entire community,” Blackwood said.

Commissioner Connie Hudson said the funding represents a “finite amount” that is not intended to be a reoccurring expense by county taxpayers.

The money comes from a portion of the approximately $80 million Mobile County got from the pandemic relief money authorized by Congress in 2021.

“We have confidence in the District Attorney to do what he is planning to do and that is trying to get the case loads to manageable levels in three years,” Hudson said. “He thinks this extra staff can do that.”

She added, “He understands this is a finite source of funding and beyond the time (it is used up), he anticipates additional funding sources to supplant this funding.”

But where that funding source from the state might come from remains a lofty unknown. District Attorneys have long struggled with an updated formula for funding prosecutors statewide, and there has been no legislation introduced in Montgomery to address it.

The funding holes are becoming more pronounced after Alabama courts were closed during the height of the pandemic, leaving a backlog of criminal cases. The closures also led to a freeze in the collection of court fees from the court system, which is an amount that provides a crucial annual funding source.

District Attorneys have since sought assistance from local governments. Aside from the $3 million in Mobile and Mobile County, other cities have approved allocations to support their prosecutors. In Tuscaloosa County, District Attorney Hays Webb sought funding last year from local governments and was able to secure $30,000 from the City of Northport. That funding came from a federal court settlement with opioid producers.

Blackwood called the state’s funding system for district attorney’s as “antiquated,” and said the Alabama District Attorney’s Association is working with the 42 district attorney circuits statewide to find a solution.

A representative with the District Attorney’s Association did not return a call for comment.

Blackwood said he is pleased with legislation introduced this spring to fund additional judges. Specifically, SB144 would require $3.1 million during fiscal year 2025 and $4.1 million thereafter to create six additional circuit judicial jobs and four district judges (including one in Mobile), according to the legislation’s fiscal note.

“I think that is absolutely needed,” he said. “We have eight circuit judges assigned to criminal cases, and that’s just not enough. We need more judges, but there is a need for additional funding for more prosecutors to prosecute those cases.”

Mobile County’s support of the District Attorney’s office stands in contrast to how things materialized for years leading up to 2017, when the office under then-District Attorney Rich butted heads with commissioners including Hudson over a dispute over funding. The matter wound up in the legal system and made its way up to the Alabama Supreme Court before a final settlement was reached.

In 2017, the county agreed to contribute an additional $1.2 million to the District Attorney’s office, above the $1.5 million it had already been allocating for more than a decade.

Hudson said the approximately $3 million represents “over half the revenues” the office receives.

She said she hopes state lawmakers find a way to resolve the funding issue.

“The county is paying for over half of the revenues for the DA’s office, and it’s a state agency,” she said.