The Dallas County public defender's office wants to prevent its relatively new appeals division from becoming a casualty of this year's budget crisis.

And it's getting some help from the state.

County commissioners plan to dissolve the 20-month-old division to save $250,000, part of a budget-cutting exercise to close a $34 million budget shortfall.

Commissioners have said that the unit isn't cost-effective and that the work should be left to court-appointed lawyers.

But a new report from the Texas Task Force on Indigent Defense, which oversees compliance with the 2001 Fair Defense Act, says the appeals division is cost-effective and should be continued and perhaps even expanded. The report also said the county's caseload expectations for public defenders are unreasonably high.

Public defender officials will ask commissioners next Monday to preserve the appeals unit.

Lawyers from the public defender's office cost $72 per hour while court-appointed attorneys cost $100 an hour for appeals work, the report said. The task force's July 15 study said public defenders are cheaper because expenses are consolidated in one office and lawyers can share research.

The five lawyers in the appeals division are all experienced, and judges speak highly of them, the report said.

Ryan Brown, the county's budget director, said public defenders spend more hours on cases, which increases overall costs. He also said public defenders, unlike private lawyers, are paid when they are sick, injured and on vacation. There are also indirect costs such as office space and supplies, he said.

"You can't just take the straight hourly rate," Mr. Brown said.

Commissioner John Wiley Price said that for the appeals unit to work, judges would have to use its lawyers more. He said he would consider sparing the unit if the new chief public defender can get judges to commit to doing that.

The task force's report also evaluated the public defenders' caseloads and concluded that public defenders would be cost-effective even if they handled fewer cases than what county commissioners require.

Mr. Price has said some lawyers in the office are not pulling their weight. Brad Lollar, the former chief public defender, was forced to resign last month because commissioners were unhappy with his management. On Tuesday, commissioners voted to make Lynn Richardson chief public defender and increase her salary.

Commissioners want public defenders to handle at least 100 misdemeanor cases a month and 40 felony cases per month, the report said. That's three or more times higher than "nationally recommended standards" and substantially higher than caseloads handled by other Texas public defenders, the report said.

"Overloading public defenders can pose a serious threat to the indigent's right to competent counsel," the report said. In Dallas County, public defenders could handle as few as 50 misdemeanor cases a month and 26 felony cases a month and still be cost-effective, the report said.

Mr. Price said he hasn't read the task force's report but that his analysis shows that 50 misdemeanor cases a month won't cut it. Court-appointed lawyers handle more than that, he said.