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In a legal opinion released Monday night, Luzerne County Chief Solicitor Romilda Crocamo said county District Attorney Sam Sanguedolce cannot provide raises to three newly promoted administrators without a budget transfer approved by county council.
				Crocamo told council she confirmed with the budget/finance office that Sanguedolce would require a transfer because he does not have enough money available in his non-union salary budget line to cover the raises and other payroll obligations through the end of this year.
				Sanguedolce has said he has funds available in other salary-related budget lines if needed to cover the raises, stressing he would not exceed his overall department budget allocation.
				However, Crocamo said the county&rsquo;s home rule charter is clear that the DA can only transfer funds within his budget if the &ldquo;transfers are not used to increase salaries or create new positions.&rdquo;
				Sanguedolce said Monday night he has not had a chance to review Crocamo&rsquo;s opinion. He also wants to see the budget/finance figures before concluding whether funds are available in the non-union salary category.
				He said he intends to review both, likely with legal counsel, as soon as possible.
				In a weekend letter to council, he said charter-superseding state law dictates that district attorneys oversee how funds in their budget are expended and does not &ldquo;bestow upon council additional powers to intercede in the operation of the district attorney&rsquo;s office.&rdquo;
				He also pointed to a charter section banning council members from directing the district attorney to intervene or interfere with the promotion of any person.
				Crocamo responded to this charter reference in Monday&rsquo;s opinion, saying it is &ldquo;inapplicable in this situation.&rdquo;
				&rdquo;The prohibition restricts an individual council member from interfering in the operation of his office. It has absolutely no bearing on the authority of the district attorney to increase salaries or create positions when unencumbered funds are or become available,&rdquo; she wrote.
				Crocamo said her office has no &ldquo;convincing, authoritative, dispositive legal claim that the district attorney has the unilateral authority to make the salary changes,&rdquo; prompting a recommendation that Sanguedolce &ldquo;makes the necessary request of county council to achieve his objective.&rdquo;
				&ldquo;The most efficient and fair process is for the district attorney to submit a budget amendment to council for its approval. Not only will council be able to properly vet this issue, but the public will have a voice in the process,&rdquo; she wrote.
				Sanguedolce had submitted paperwork for three increases, the administration said: deputy district attorney, from $66,267.50 to $73,000; deputy district attorney of narcotics, $66,267 to $69,000; and narcotics division chief, $60,000 to $65,000.
				The first increase is for Chester F. Dudick Jr., who was promoted from deputy district attorney to chief deputy district attorney, Sanguedolce said.
				The second impacts Daniel E. Zola, who advanced from deputy district attorney of narcotics to deputy district attorney in charge of investigations. While continuing to lead the county drug task force, he will also oversee interstate and inter-county cases, cold cases and special investigations.
				In the final position, Thomas J. Hogans previously oversaw major crimes as an assistant district attorney and is now deputy district attorney in charge of litigation, managing trials and various divisions within the litigation section, such as the vice/narcotics and special victim units.
				Union response
				A representative of the union representing assistant district attorneys &mdash; Scott Kucharski, principal officer with Teamsters Local Union No. 401 &mdash; sent council a letter Monday taking issue with wording Sanguedolce used to justify the promotions and raises.
				Sanguedolce, who took over as district attorney March 25 because Stefanie Salavantis is running for judge, had told council Dudick, Zola and Hogans were with him working daily throughout the coronavirus pandemic because &ldquo;crime and investigation and prosecutorial efforts did not stop.&rdquo;
				Now that courts are returning to full operation, a &ldquo;tidal wave&rdquo; of in-person hearings and trials are being scheduled, he had said. The DA&rsquo;s office was understaffed prior to the pandemic, and the three workers &ldquo;agreed to take on additional duties to lighten the workload on the remainder of the office,&rdquo; he had said.
				Kucharski told council this wrongly &ldquo;implies&rdquo; assistant district attorneys were not working daily throughout the pandemic. He went on to detail the ADAs&rsquo; work that &ldquo;continued unabated&rdquo; during the shutdown.
				The union leader&rsquo;s letter also says the three newly appointed deputy DAs did not appear in the majority of court hearings and trials since the pandemic began and that two of the three are &ldquo;virtually non-existent from the public docket.&rdquo;
				&ldquo;The bulk of case assignments have been and will continue to be handled by the assistant district attorneys, not the deputy DAs,&rdquo; it said. &ldquo;If a &lsquo;tidal wave&rsquo; is coming, the assistant district attorneys are standing on the shoreline in front of it. If anyone deserves &lsquo;tidal wave&rsquo; pay it is the assistant district attorneys not the deputy DAs,&rdquo; it said.
				Kucharski agreed the office is understaffed and underfunded and called on county officials to &ldquo;recognize the extraordinary hard work and dedication&rdquo; of the ADAs in future budget and compensation discussions.
				&rdquo;I would also hope that DA Sanguedolce would take this opportunity to advocate for fair pay on behalf of all his attorneys instead of the privileged few that he has chosen to deputize,&rdquo; it said.
				In response, Sanguedolce said he had not received the letter but wholeheartedly supports his entire staff.
				&ldquo;Nothing I said was meant to infer the ADAs don&rsquo;t work hard. Everyone in the courthouse can see how hard they work,&rdquo; Sanguedolce said.
				He said the administrative changes were designed to expand the office&rsquo;s focus with limited resources. The promoted workers will take on additional duties, such as working on cold cases, interstate and inter-county cases and special investigations, he said.

Luzerne County solicitor says DA needs council OK for raises