Zanesville Could Receive Reimbursement in the Future

The City of Zanesville could receive a pretty significant reimbursement from the state in the coming years.

Municipal Court Judge, Bill Joseph, said the court appoints attorneys to represent indigent defendants, and in return, the city pays those attorneys. Recently, Joseph said, in cooperation with the public defender’s office, the court discovered they can get reimbursed up to 48 percent of that money.

“So that would be 48 percent of the money that comes out of the city fund would come back to the city, to do that though, they cannot work directly with the city, the public defender’s office has to reimburse only the county, so we’ve come to the county commissioners today to work out an agreement,” Joseph said.

Joseph said the Muskingum County Commissioners were on board with the proposal. The reimbursement could be anywhere from $30,000-$40,000 a year, which Joseph said is win for the taxpayers of Muskingum County and City of Zanesville.