Broward county balks at paying high rent for pd offices

From the Sun-Sentinel:

A new, obscure state agency that helps represent the poor in court has rented offices on posh Las Olas Boulevard and wants Broward County taxpayers to pick up the $416,000- a-year tab.

County commissioners, forced to reduce services to provide property tax relief, refuse to pay the rent and ordered their attorneys to join other counties in a lawsuit.

The Office of Criminal Conflict and Civil Regional Counsel handles criminal and civil cases in which public defenders have a conflict of interest. When legislators created the agency last year, they did not set aside money for office space; instead, they ordered counties to cover the expense.

The regional counsel’s local digs are in an eight-story building at Las Olas and Third Avenue, amid downtown Fort Lauderdale’s banks, shops and restaurants. The head of the agency told county officials he chose the location to put his staff within walking distance of the courthouse.

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