NORWICH – Chenango County is calling on New York State to take up the burden of indigent legal defense services which local officials argue would save county taxpayers approximately half a million dollars.

Members of the County Board recently passed a resolution requesting that the state legislature create a 100 percent state-funded indigent legal defense system. According to county officials, the measure would result in tremendous savings to the county by relieving local taxpayers of the public defender’s nearly $600,000 per year budget.

“If the state took over 75 or 80 percent of that budget, it would equate to about $500,000,” explained County Treasurer William Craine. “If that’s phased in over five years, we would see savings of about $100,000 each year.”

For more than 50 years, the New York State legislature has delegated the responsibility of providing counsel for individuals charged with a crime to counties. But the decision to root that responsibility at the county level has resulted in a system where county and local taxpayers are strained with the cost of what’s legally the state’s responsibility.