Durham wants more police, but draft budget cuts prosecutors. What the DA says.
Durham County’s district attorney is warning proposed city budget cuts next year could have immediate impacts on her office.
Monday afternoon, before the Durham City Council’s 7 p.m. meeting, Satana Deberry sent a letter to council members and City Manager Bo Ferguson expressing her “profound disappointment” with the city’s proposed budget for the fiscal year that begins July 1.
The budget, as Ferguson presented May 18, proposes a $313,493 cut in funding to the N.C. Administrative Office of the Courts, which oversees the Office of the District Attorney. Deberry said that will result in a 10% reduction in staff and “dismantle almost three decades of cooperation between this office and the City of Durham.”
Ferguson’s $766.1 million spending plan keeps the city’s property tax rate flat but recommends funding cuts for some areas, increases to utility bills and no merit pay increases for city employees. The City Council plans to vote on the budget proposal on June 15.
What Deberry warns
The money slated to be cut pays for two assistant district attorneys (ADAs). These prosecutors are stationed daily within the District Criminal Court, District Traffic Court and Juvenile Delinquency Court where there is the highest volume, Deberry said.
“The positions are already severely underfunded, with the ADAs in those positions making only $65,000/year. The market salary for entry level attorneys in the Triangle is twice that,” she wrote. “My staff are already some of the lowest paid attorneys in state government.”
Cutting these position mid-year, Deberry said, will have a big impact on young attorneys entering the job market that is “only active once a year and summer is not that time.”
For the prosecutors in the district attorney’s office who will remain, their caseloads will swell, slowing the legal system more.
“Justice delayed is justice denied,” she wrote.
Outside of position cuts, Deberry said the ADAs are also integral to the Durham Expunction and Restoration (DEAR) Clinic, another program facing proposed funding rollbacks.
The DA’s office and DEAR have restored drivers’ licenses and cleared the records of thousands of Durham County residents. Deberry wrote that the clinic has helped forgive over $2 million in fines and fees. The money is returned to the local economy, expands employment and education access, and lowers insurance costs, she wrote.
What the city manager says
Ferguson called the proposed cut among the “most grueling choices of an unprecedentedly restrictive budget cycle.”
“This budget was driven by a substantial, one-time drop in property tax revenues following millions of dollars in successful revaluation appeals,” Ferguson wrote in an email to Deberry. “Confronted with a shrinking General Fund amid persistent inflation, rising fuel costs, and expanding operational needs, the City has been forced to make deep sacrifices across the entire organization to stabilize its financial footing without raising property taxes for our residents.”
The city manager said the decision to eliminate the funding for the ADAs “does not reflect a lack of commitment to public safety or equitable justice.”
“But rather the stark reality of our current municipal revenue shortfall,” he said.
On May 18, Ferguson told the City Council that property tax appeals, mainly those from commercial properties, resulted in about $14 million in refunds that reduced revenues for the city.
Many of the 10,000 appeals were granted, which reduced the assessed tax base by $2.6 billion, Ferguson said during the budget presentation.
Durham is cutting 10 positions across various departments, among other budget cuts.
‘Simply does not make sense’
As the City Council talks about public safety, including solutions to gun violence, Deberry pointed to a paradox in the proposed cuts. The city is talking about expanding the Durham Police Department.
“Hiring more law enforcement officers means there must be more prosecutors,” Deberry wrote. “For the city to hire more police while cutting prosecutors simply does not make sense.”
Durham’s proposed cuts come as the next DA in neighboring Wake County is asking that county and several towns to help pay for more prosecutors.
Last month, Wake’s incoming DA, Wiley Nickel, detailed a $603,000 request to add more assistant district attorneys and legal assistants, and to find a local supplement for public defenders. The funding would also improve mental health court in the county.
“We remain open to ongoing dialogue as the City Council reviews the proposed budget to explore how we can best navigate these systemic hardships together and preserve the safety and equity of our local legal system,” Ferguson said.
A public hearing is scheduled for 7 p.m. Monday at Durham City Council meeting for residents to comment on the budget proposal.
This story was originally published June 1, 2026 at 5:27 PM.