It's the same with the sheriff. The county attorney SUPPORTS the sheriff. 100% of the county attorney's cost has to be cranked into the cost of having a sheriff. After all, if the sheriff wasn't arresting those people why would you need an attorney?
In many places the sheriff also operates the jail and provides food, clothing, HVAC and other materials to the prisoners out of a fixed budget. He gets to take any surplus. You will occasionally hear about a sheriff earning in excess of half a mil a year as a consequence of running the jail alone. That, right there, gives us about $360 per hour (on an annualized basis). Add in his salary and the other supporting costs and $500 is probably a low estimate applicable in only the most remote, crime free parts of the country.
what you are failing to take into account here is that WalMart may very well be the biggest taxpayer to the county........
You only talk about the cost to the county that WalMart calling the sheriff, not the financial gain the county receives from WalMart being there, not only as a taxpaying landowner, but as an employer and tax generator.........
That's a legitimate cost. But your lawyer doesn't charge you for the guy that covers him on vacation in his hours spent not on vacation.
But the county attorney spends almost no time on these cases, one is in the room during bulk court to be "consulted" (usually his consultation is "plead no contest to the lesser crime offered and pay the fine"). Bulk court has a couple of bailiffs, one judge, one defense attorney and one prosecuting attorney, probably less than $200 an hour in man power cost and the can process over 60 cases in that hour.
You're trying to bill the entire salary of the warden against one sheriff. Doesn't work like that, his salary would have to be billed against ALL the hours of ALL the sheriffs of ALL the jurisdiction that have put people in that jail. Pennies to the hour.