Craig A. De Costa, “prosecutor-elect” until he is formally sworn into office on Wednesday, Dec. 1, said the new pay raises he and his fellow county deputy prosecuting attorneys received effective July 1 should help him recruit qualified deputies. It
Craig A. De Costa, “prosecutor-elect” until he is formally sworn into office on Wednesday, Dec. 1, said the new pay raises he and his fellow county deputy prosecuting attorneys received effective July 1 should help him recruit qualified deputies.
It had been eight or nine years since the prosecutors’ last pay raises, he said of the “overdue” hikes. The new wages for deputies are $60,000 to $66,000, and $69,000 for the first deputy prosecuting attorney, the position now held by De Costa.
The new wages should make it more “attractive” for either a career prosecutor or someone who wants to come to or return to Kaua‘i to consider working for the county, he said.
And filling some vacant positions will be a priority for De Costa when he assumes the office of prosecutor.
“We’re still down two,” De Costa said of deputy prosecutors in his office. “I consider fully staffed 10” attorneys, he said. One attorney is out on family leave, to return soon, and a federal “funding issue” is preventing current Prosecuting Attorney Michael Soong from hiring an additional attorney even though Roy Nishida, the county’s anti-drug coordinator, successfully wrote for a federal grant to fund the position, De Costa said.
The federal money is expected to be released sometime after the fiscal new year starts this Friday, Oct. 1.
De Costa, currently first deputy county prosecuting attorney, won election to a four-year term as prosecuting attorney at the primary election earlier this month, upon receiving one vote, as he ran unopposed.
With the pay raise and elevation from first deputy to prosecuting attorney, De Costa will be making $75,000, he said. The raises are overdue especially for the prosecuting attorney and first deputy, he said.
Current deputies include De Costa, Russell K. Goo, Dena M. Renti Cruz, Shaylene C.L. Iseri-Carvalho, Roland J. Talon, Aaron K. H. Kakinami, Jennifer S. Winn, and David C. Rawlings.
Iseri-Carvalho is a candidate for County Council who placed seventh in the recent primary election. Though she couldn’t be reached for comment yesterday, it is presumed she would resign from her present position should she be elected to the council at the general election Tuesday, Nov. 2.
As is customary when a new prosecutor is elected, the deputies submit courtesy resignations, as they serve at the pleasure of the prosecutor, De Costa explained. The deputies have not yet submitted their resignations, and De Costa has not asked them for those papers, he said.
Including the deputies, there are a total of 24 employees in the county Office of the Prosecuting Attorney, which also has a Victim Witness Program.
Paul C. Curtis, associate editor, may be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 224) or mailto:pcurtis@pulitzer.net.
