During the Washington County Commission meeting on Thursday morning, County Prosecutor Nicole Coil brought attention to the salaries of the current prosecutors.

The challenge Coil is faced with is determining a fair starting wage that reflects their experience and is also a competitive rate that will bring them to the area.

The problem is, starting wages for attorneys in neighboring counties is anywhere from $10,000 to $20,000 more than what they offer in Washington County.

According to Coil, the reason for this is because the current attorneys aren’t being paid enough.

“That’s a problem, so to be able to attract people, their starting salaries are more than my best (attorneys),” said Coil. “But they all deserve more based upon what the rates are.”

Coil can’t attract any attorneys to apply to the area unless she gives them a starting rate that would be more than what the current, experienced attorneys are making.

“I think my people should probably all be making in the 80s given their experience and that’s still maybe a little low,” she said.

The prosecutor’s office in Washington County is competing with adjacent counties who are offering substantially higher pay.

“It’s like when you’re selling your house and you have one person who’s really interested,” said Coil. “You don’t want to let that person go because you don’t know if anybody else is going to come around.”

Coil also has to take into account the amount of work the attorneys are putting into these cases and their student loans.

Some criminal cases are 12-hour days that last longer than a week, and it takes a toll on them over time.

“We have to go to law school and pay for all of that and there’s a lot of money that goes into it and we don’t just work 8 to 4:30,” said Coil. “Most of us are there later and then we’re working on the weekends when we have trials.”

Commissioners said they heard her concerns and are open to further discussion.

Coil plans to make a proposal to the commissioners during the meeting on Thursday, March 13.