State Cuts $300,000 From D.A. Funding

Calling the Ventura County district attorney’s office “a victim of its own success,” state officials this month took away more than $300,000 in annual grants it has awarded each of the last 14 years to prosecute drug cases.

State officials said Ventura County’s decreasing drug-related caseload coupled with increased problems in other counties led to the cutbacks.

“The problem has been spreading out,” said Michael Carrington, deputy director of the state Office of Criminal Justice Planning in Sacramento.

“Unfortunately, there is only so much money to go around,” Carrington said.

He said a little more than $2 million was available for the grants this fiscal year, which began July 1.

In the county, the money was used to pay for six workers, including two prosecutors.

Officials in the district attorney’s office said the end of the grant may mean that several jobs will be lost this year through attrition.