The salary and benefit cost for the 12th Judicial District attorney is going up in July and the six county governments that help fund it will have to figure out how to pay it.
The base minimum salary for the district attorney will increase to $193,008 from the current minimum of $130,000 due to a state law adopted in 2024 that sets the minimum salary for district attorneys in Colorado. Add in the Colorado PERA retirement benefits and the new cost to employ the DA to handle prosecutorial matters in the San Luis Valley goes to $234,717 from $158,093.
The new wage and benefit scale, which goes into effect July 1, was shared Monday with the San Luis Valley Board of County Commissioners, which is a group of county commissioners who meet to receive information and discuss issues affecting all six counties that make up the Valley.
Each Board of County Commission for Alamosa, Conejos, Costilla, Mineral, Rio Grande and Saguache counties will look to adopt a resolution before July that specifies the salary and benefit amount of the DA and how much each county will pay to cover the cost.
State taxpayers pay 80 percent of the cost for a district attorney, while counties within the judicial district collectively pay the remaining 20 percent.
In the 12th Judicial District, Alamosa is the largest of the counties and bears the highest cost of employing the district attorney. In this case, Alamosa will fund nearly 36 percent of the local cost that the six counties must meet. Rio Grande will cover 25 percent, Conejos 16 percent, Saguache 14 percent, Costilla nearly 8 percent and Mineral County 2 percent of cost.
Commissioners representing their respective counties voiced support for current DA Anne Kelly and indicated they would figure out within their own budgets how to meet the higher salary scale.
“I think we’re all in agreement that you guys are doing a good job,” said Conejos County Commissioner Joseph Baroz, who chairs the SLV Board of County Commissioners.
In 2024 as SB24-013 was being considered in the state legislature, Kelly voiced support for the “uniquely rural bill” as a way to attract qualified, professional prosecutors to work in rural parts of the state.
“When I accepted appointment by the Governor to fill this position in 2022, I embraced the challenge because I care deeply about crime victims, protecting the rights of the accused and a fair, just process that our community can trust,” she said.
“Career prosecutors make informed and purpose driven decisions to forego much more lucrative legal jobs. Senior prosecutors with invaluable trial experience are frequently sought after in the private sector. We reject these paths to serve a greater purpose. We also, however, must face reality. When an elected district attorney’s salary creeps closer and closer to the salary that the elected official pays subordinates, as it has my jurisdiction, the pool of potential leaders dries up.”