Public Safety and Criminal Justice Committee Budget Hearing – August 20, 2025
Public Safety and Criminal Justice Committee Budget Hearing – August 20, 2025
The Public Safety and Criminal Justice Committee of the Indianapolis-Marion County City-County Council met on Wednesday, August 20, 2025, at 5:30 p.m. in the Public Assembly Room of the City-County Building. The committee heard budget presentations for three agencies: the Marion County Prosecutor's Office (including the Child Support Division), the Marion County Public Defender Agency, and Marion Community Corrections. No votes were taken; the hearing was for discussion and information gathering only.
Marion County Prosecutor's Office and Child Support Division
Prosecutor Ryan Mears presented the 2026 proposed budget of $35,012,418 for the Criminal Division and $7,072,132 for the Child Support Division. He highlighted that so far in 2025, the office has charged 31 murder trials to verdict with a 90% conviction rate (28 for 31). Of 52 homicide cases filed this year, 26 individuals (50%) had no prior adult arrests. The office has seen a shift toward self-defense cases; all three trials lost this year involved self-defense claims. Sex crimes cases remain strong: 11 for 11 in child molest trials. Notable convictions include Raymond Childs (360 years for killing six family members), Bruce Minnenhall (serial killer), and Kevin Bennett (108 years for serial rape).
The office lost two state-funded grants – the Adult Protective Services grant (~$500,000) and the DOC diversion grant ($189,000) – leading to elimination of 10 positions, though some staff were reassigned. Starting attorney salaries were raised to $72,000, improving recruitment. The office has partnerships with Vera Institute and Stanford University to evaluate racial disparities in charging.
Mike McGuire presented the Child Support Division's budget. The division currently has 37,032 open cases. The proposed $7,072,132 budget does not reflect total expected expenses of $8,146,811. By shifting more expenses to County General, the county could capture an additional $709,288 in federal reimbursements. The division runs programs like the Parents that Work program (197 participants in 2024, goal of 230 in 2026) and Second Chance Workshops (1,400+ served in 2024, goal of 1,600 in 2026). A new mediation program is planned for 2026 using incentive funds.
In Q&A, Councilors asked about grant losses, racial disparities in charging, bond processes, and the revolving door of criminal justice. Prosecutor Mears clarified that the office does not set bonds (bail is based on a matrix) and that information flow from arrest to charging is a process challenge. On residency requirements, he noted his office is not legally bound by them and expressed concerns about losing employees to cheaper housing outside Marion County.
Marion County Public Defender Agency
Chief Public Defender Ray Casanova presented the 2026 proposed budget of $34,821,120, a reduction of $81,317 from 2025. County General funding dropped by $470,851, leading to a loss of 10 funded FTEs. The agency has 314.5 total FTEs, with 260 filled and 54.5 vacant. Critical vacancies exist in the Major Felony Division (5 attorney IV positions). The agency relies on a 40% reimbursement from the Indiana Commission on Court Appointed Attorneys for non-capital cases (50% for capital). In 2024, reimbursement totaled $10.3 million; 2025 is projected at $11 million. The Title IV-E grant will help cover contractual expenses for experts, contractors, and the pending capital case.
Casanova stressed that the residency requirement (from which the prosecutor's office is exempt) hinders recruitment and retention. A recent denial of a waiver forced an attorney to leave, leaving 114 open cases. The agency prefers full-time attorneys over contract attorneys due to better supervision and training.
Budget details: Character 1 decreased by $258,785 (County General) due to 2.6% COLA and health insurance increases, forcing the 10-FTE reduction. Character 3 decreased by $212,621 (County General), shifting contractual expenses to federal grants (increase of $534,000 in Federal Grants fund). Federal grants include ARPA/IDS project (expires Sept 2026), Quality of Life program (extended to Sept 2026), and Title IV-E. State DOC grant for problem-solving courts likely not renewed for 2026.
Public comments were heard from three employees:
- Lucy Frick (Major Felony attorney, 10 years): Described understaffing in Major Felony; her caseload exceeds 30, and colleagues are higher. Asked for more funding and a union contract, noting negotiations have stalled since February 2024. She warned she would leave if no contract is signed.
- Raul Delarosa: Noted that the union contract is unsettled, making it difficult to set a budget. Said a 2.6% COLA does not keep up with inflation. Mentioned federal loan forgiveness is on hold.
- Evan Dominguez (Major Felony team lead): Echoed colleagues, criticized budget cuts while IMPD received a $20 million increase. Raised concerns about mental health issues in the community and retention problems due to harassment, pay, and respect.
Marion Community Corrections
Director Scott Hohl and CFO Justin Garcia presented the 2026 proposed budget of $22,492,408, a decrease of $462,423 from 2025. The agency supervises over 3,400 active clients; in 2024 it served 7,077 clients. It has 204 positions, 179 filled (21 vacant, 4 frozen). The budget includes a 4% reserve required by OFM, leading to freezing 4 positions (saving $303,225) and removing $220,000 based on 11% attrition rate. Character 1 increased by $79,974 due to COLA and health insurance; Character 3 decreased by $478,352, limiting programming, training, and XBE contract expansion. Duvall Residential Center continues to face costly repairs: $70,000 in unexpected repairs in 2024 and $110,000 so far in 2025. Known issues include a roof replacement ($1.3 million), walk-in freezer ($50-60k), and generator ($50-60k). A facility assessment is underway.
Revenue projections: ~$1 million from user fees (electronic monitoring and work release), with fees based on financial analysis and poverty rates. Grants: $5,992,607 from Indiana DOC and $83,873 from JAG. The DOC grant was cut by $7 million statewide, impacting Marion County by $1.2 million, with programs like prosecutor diversion and probation treatment zeroed out.
Performance metrics: 76% program completion rate in 2024, 53,000 electronic monitoring alerts handled by the 24-hour Client Services Center, 47 home visits resulting in 34 arrests, 59 guns seized, and over 45,000 grams of drugs seized. Only 8 critical incident reports and 6 use-of-force incidents at Duvall. Awards: Isaac Olorunnisomo won Residential Employee of the Year; Kyle Mishler accepted into APPA Leadership Institute; Captain Jeffrey Sutt graduated from DOC Leadership Academy.
In Q&A, Councilor Hart asked about statutory mandate; Director Hohl explained community corrections is optional for counties. Councilor Boots inquired about the Duvall facility assessment timeline and digital kiosks (used for probation payments, not related to community corrections). Councilor Graves questioned the budget's impact on XBE participation; Garcia clarified that the agency cannot expand contracts due to Character 3 cuts, affecting all providers, including XBE.
Key Outcomes
- No votes were taken. The committee received presentations and asked questions. The 2026 budgets for the three agencies will be considered by the full City-County Council as part of the overall county budget process.
- The committee will continue budget hearings on other agencies in future meetings.
Meeting Transcript
Good afternoon, everyone. It's 5 30 p.m. on Wednesday, August 20th, 2025. We're in the public assembly room of the City County Building. Welcome to the public safety and criminal justice committee of the City County Council. We do have a few budget hearings tonight. There will be no vote tonight. We'll have three presentations. But before we do that, we'll do introductions of our counselors on the bottom row. Counselor Hart. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. My name is Michael Paul Hart, representing District 20. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Josh Bain, District 21. Thank you, Mr. Chairman Paul Linet, representing District 22. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Brian Mower, District 25. Thank you, Chairman Robinson, Dan Boots, District 3, Washington, Lawrence Townships. Thank you, Mr. Chair Brianne Delaney, District 2. Good evening, Chairman Robinson. Christo Carlino, District 11, West Side. Good evening, everyone, and good evening, Mr. Chair Keith Graves, District 9 on the Indianapolis East side. Thank you, Councils and Lee Wy Robinson, District 1 and Chair of the Committee. First up is a Marion County prosecutor in the Child Support Division, Prosecutor Ryan Mears, Miss Lita Scott, and Michael McGuire. Prosecutor Mears, welcome. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. We each have a presentation before us, a hard copy. There will be one on the uh screen, and we will do questions and answers at the conclusion of the presentation. Okay. Thank you, sir. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. So just uh starting out, this is to take a look at uh our leadership team, Dan Chicini is our chief trial deputy. Miss Scott, who's our chief counsel sitting uh right next to me, Emily Shrocks, our chief of staff, Jennifer Joyce, the chief of the charging division, uh, and then uh Carlo Lopez, who's in charge of community outreach, Danette Kennedy, who's the supervisor of the criminal support staff, Linda Majors, the supervisor of special victims, domestic violence, and Rachel James is head of our juvenile division. So just kind of looking at uh at who we are 66% of our staff are women, 78% of women occupy leadership positions uh in our in the prosecutor's office. Uh that includes both child support and the criminal division side. I feel uh incredibly grateful that we've been able to really increase the level of diversity in our office in terms of not only who appears in leadership but also who uh make up the 420, 430 individuals who work in the prosecutor's office at any given time. So, as always, uh a conversation is about uh murder convictions and just kind of where we have been historically and where we are uh to this point this year. Uh so far we've charged 31 murder trials to verdict this year. Uh we're 28 for 31, which puts us at 90 percent. Uh you can see those numbers tracked very closely over the last five or six years in terms of where we are at in terms of the number of trials as well as conviction rates. Obviously, during COVID, we didn't do nearly as many trials as we're doing now. We've done 31 murder trials uh so far this year.
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