The Albemarle County Board of Supervisors agreed March 8 to restore full funding for the Legal Aid Justice Center with County funds previously set aside for the the high-profile trial of Jesse Matthew.
Matthew entered into a guilty plea for the murders of Morgan Harrington and Hannah Graham in Albemarle County Circuit Court March 2.
Laura Vinzant, Albemarle County senior budget analyst, said available funds for the center came from a one-time trial contingency of $59,975 which was set aside by Albemarle County officials for costs associated with the trial.
“The budget included travel costs for witnesses, facilities and technology costs associated with hosting a closed circuit simulcast of the trial at the County Office Building, court security costs, general staff support during trial hours that exceed regular business hours, and general contingency for the potential of moving the trial to another jurisdiction,” Vinzant said in an email statement.
Approximately $27,000 of the trial contingency will be re-directed to the Legal Aid Justice Center, whose funding from the City of Charlottesville and Albemarle County was cut this year.
The Legal Aid Justice Center receives funding from both the city and the county, which is recommended by the Agency Budget Review Team. Earlier this month, ABRT notified the Center that it would receive an approximately $75,000 cut. The cut was composed of $27,000 from the county and $50,000 from the city.
Mary Bauer, executive director of the Legal Aid Justice Center, said the cut represents the salary and benefits of one staff member at the center.
“$75,000 pays for an entire lawyer, so it represents an entire position representing hundreds of people over the course of the year,” Bauer said. “We use that money for programming and to provide services to low income people.”
Bauer said the funding issue is less about Jesse Matthew and more about the ABRT and Board of Supervisors seeing the value in a program which provides legal services to low income community members in matters of eviction, deportation, suspension from school and health insurance access.
“These are really critical services and we only represent low income individuals and groups, so these are people who absolutely could not get legal services elsewhere,” Bauer said. “In a criminal case, the constitution says you have the right to a lawyer. In a civil case the courts say you don’t have the right to a lawyer, so we are the best protection to keep families from say, getting evicted or losing their homes.”
The $27,000 in additional funding is a one-time arrangement subject to review in the next fiscal year.
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