The Routt, Moffat and Grand county commissioners approved a 6.4% personnel budget increase for the 14th Judicial District Attorney’s Office during a joint meeting Tuesday.

After discussions around staffing, caseloads and law enforcement collaboration, the commissioners decided to allocate an extra $169,759 to the district attorney’s office for 2026, including a $36,000 allocation for staff housing.

The decision came after District Attorney Matt Karzen wrote a letter to the Routt, Moffat and Grand county commissioners in early June, stating the office was facing a staffing “crisis” with six attorneys to cover the district and four positions open.

Karzen’s letter points to the Northwest Colorado housing crisis as the primary cause of the staffing shortage, noting that “multiple” potential hires declined an offer because they could not find affordable housing.

“We can’t chase housing costs with salary dollars,” said Karzen during an Aug. 25 Routt County Commissioners’ work session. “There’s just not enough.”

During Tuesday’s joint county commissioner meeting, Karzen said that the office has hired two attorneys since the June letter was written, and he anticipates hiring another attorney to start in November, “assuming (the DA’s office) can make housing work.”

Karzen’s budget proposal includes a newly added housing budget for staff members, with over $16,500 allocated in Routt County, over $10,000 in Grand County and $9,000 in Moffat County for 2026, according to a tri-county budget document.

Grand County Commissioner Merrit Linke voiced concerns about a lack of prosecution in Grand County, as well as the district attorney’s ability to solve current staffing and prosecution issues.

“What we keep hearing here in Grand — and maybe it’s not the same with the other counties — is that some of these criminals are not getting prosecuted, what seems to be repeat offenders, and they’re getting charges dismissed,” Linke said during the meeting. “I keep hearing this from a pretty wide range of people.”

Karzen said the question was “complicated” and “a lot of factors go into it.” Overall, he attributed the lack of prosecution to collaboration between his office and local law enforcement agencies, as well as understaffing.

Karzen also told commissioners that when communicating with local law enforcement officers about the lack of prosecution, there is an understanding that they do not necessarily have “the same missions” and “moral priorities.”

“We do collaborate and work together to try and maintain public safety, balanced with human decency, as best as we can,” Karzen said.

He also stated that understaffing has led to “hard decisions” when it comes to prosecuting some cases, and stated that “low-level-status offenses” don’t take high priority.

“If a drug addict is caught with a meth pipe, I’m not going to be able to do much with that case,” said Karzen. “I just don’t have the bandwidth for it.”

“The defense knows,” he added. “They’re not stupid. They know when we’re in the weeds or overtaxed and they press. I wouldn’t expect any different.”

Finally, Karzen said that he has seen a “disconnect” between what society sees as an appropriate punishment for a low-risk offender versus what is legally appropriate.

As an example, he stated that if a drug addict is repeatedly arrested, “people think that person should just be thrown in jail for breaking the rules.”

However, the district attorney’s office consistently analyzes what these types of offenders cost not only the office but also taxpayers.

“Is that somebody we want to spend thousands of taxpayer dollars prosecuting and then incarcerating or not?” said Karzen.

Karzen also noted the roles that judges play in the criminal justice system, stating that he prefers to let judges decide on bonds and sentencing.

“Sometimes it’s very frustrating, sometimes it’s not frustrating,” Karzen added. “It’s just we agree to disagree. But the bottom line is, we’re playing our roles.”

“Sometimes it’s one thing, I agree with the police, and the judge disagrees and that’s fine,” he continued. “And other times, it’s been, unfortunately, just a tough call that we’ve had to make. Yes, this person has multiple prior felony convictions, but for whatever reason, we don’t have the bandwidth, or the evidence can oftentimes be a problem.”

Commissioners ultimately said they understood Karzen’s points and decided to support his proposed budget as presented with the proposed increase. The 2026 personnel budget will total $2,839,487, which includes employee benefits such as health care.

“I think all of us here want to see consistent prosecution services across the 14th Judicial District,” said Routt County Commissioner Angelica Salinas during the meeting. “I think that has been clear today. We want to see that consistency. We want to see you fully staffed.”

“I think the reality is, if we have to then share in the real cost of maintaining those services, and if costs are rising due to health insurance or due to inflation or housing, then holding funding flat for the DA’s office is effectively a cut,” Salinas added.