The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia received the largest budget allocation for fiscal year 2011 — at $72.9 million — by a wide margin, exceeding the country’s other offices by about $20 million.
The Justice Department provided a breakdown of the 2007 to 2011 budgets for the country’s 93 U.S. Attorney’s Offices to the Washington Post through a Freedom of Information Act Request.
While U.S. Attorney Ronald Machen’s office ranked at the top of the budgets, the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Guam had the lowest figure at $3 million for 2011, followed by the Eastern District of Oklahoma at $3.1 million. The D.C. office’s large figure is likely attributed to its supervision of local crimes, in addition to federal crimes, in the district — a fact that makes the office “unique,” said Bill Miller, a spokesman for the D.C. U.S. Attorney’s Office.
“A majority of its budget is dedicated to serving that vital local mission,” he told Main Justice.
The second biggest budget was the Southern District of New York, headed by high-profile U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara, with $52.8 million. Following SDNY was the Central District of California with $48.5 million, the Southern District of Florida with $43.6 million and the Eastern District of New York with $36.2 million, according to the chart.
Correction 8/9/2012: This article incorrectly listed the Northern District of Illinois as the U.S. Attorney’s Office with the fifth largest budget for fiscal year 2011. The Eastern District of New York had the fifth largest budget in 2011.
NB: EDNY and SDTX are both ahead of NDIL according to the chart.