MEDINA – County commissioners here are joining others around the state in asking state lawmakers to increase the reimbursement rate Ohio provides for the cost of indigent defense in county courts.

Medina County Commissioners said they would adopt a resolution recommended by the County Commissioners Association of Ohio urging the General Assembly to reaffirm the state’s partnership with counties in the provision of the constitutionally mandated services to indigent criminal defendants.

The governor’s new biennial budget currently under consideration by the General Assembly does not provide adequate funding for reimbursement, according to a statehouse report issued by CCAO. The CCAO supports a budget amendment which requires the state to reimburse counties for at least 50 percent of their overall costs for indigent defense and 100 percent of the costs in capital cases.

“This has been a problem for many years,” said County Commissioner Pat Geissman. “We haven’t been getting the money back from the state that we’re supposed to.”

In 1972, the U.S. Supreme Court mandated that the defense of indigent persons accused of crimes for which they could go to jail must be provided at public expense. This financial burden fell on the counties but in 1976 the state committed to funding 50 percent of those costs by making a reimbursement to counties.

However, the state broke its pledge to provide 50 percent reimbursement in subsequent years and the reimbursement rate dropped to 31 percent in 2005.

The last state budget adopted two years ago pledged to raise the reimbursement rate to counties to 48 percent, which it did in 2016. However, Medina County Administrator Scott Miller said a funding shortfall prompted state budget makers to drop the reimbursement rate back to 42 percent this year.

Miller said the cost of providing indigent defense in Medina County exceeds $1 million a year.

“It would definitely help if the state increased our reimbursement rate from 42 to 50 percent,” he said.

Medina County’s costs for indigent defense are split between the Medina County Public Defenders Commission and fees paid to attorneys appointed by judges to represent indigent clients.

Geissman has been concerned with indigent defense costs for more than a decade and championed the creation of the Public Defenders Commission here in 2003. She believes the commission has reduced the county’s cost for indigent defense by more than $1 million since its inception.

Public Defender Jocelyn Stefancin told commissioners last month that her office could save the county more money by expanding its responsibility. Public defenders in Medina County initially represented clients only on misdemeanor cases in Municipal Court. Public defenders later began representing clients in Juvenile Court, and last year began representing defendants in felony cases in Common Pleas Court.