DETROIT – Wayne County Prosecutor Kym L. Worthy said her office needs some money -- like $7 million of the available $60 million -- just to stop the stream of prosecutors running out the door.
"We are down almost 100 people. We are 1/2 the size of what we were before, and everybody expects us to do the same amount of work," said Worthy. "We are not functioning. We are limping along, and this is the way people want -- that Ficano wants -- his prosecutor's office funded?"
She is furious at county Executive Robert Ficano's decisions not to fund her office properly.
"If he wants to really fund core services, he could do it at the drop of a hat. But he doesn't want to. He wants rapists, murderers, child molesters and everybody else to go free because he's not funding it," said Worthy.
Ficano wants to use the $60 million to retire the accumulated budget deficit of $170 million. It's up to the Wayne County Commission to decide what to do with the money. Public safety makes the most sense to some such as Ilona Varga.
"I think we would be saving money at the end of the day -- in the long run. So we can't just try to patch things up. We have to fully fund public safety. We have to make that a priority," said Varga.
However, Worthy believes she will see none of that money. She is backing anybody but Ficano in the upcoming primary.
"Before I told them what would happen if they forced me to work with this budget ... now it's even worse than I projected ... and this county is suffering," she said.
Worthy said there are more than 1,000 outstanding warrants -- 40 of them murder warrants -- which can't be served because her office is so badly understaffed.