Everett, Wash.
Published: Monday, December 1, 2008

County budget cuts hit courts, will affect cities

The county's tight budget means smaller cases will be sent to city courts, putting an added strain on them as well.

By Bill Sheets
Herald Writer

 EVERETT -- The sting of severe budget cuts at Snohomish County is already beginning to be felt by cities as well.

County prosecutor Janice Ellis says she'll have to send property crime cases involving $1,000 or less to city municipal courts next year to prosecute because of staff cuts in her office.

Mayors, city finance directors and court administrators are grimacing at the mere thought of absorbing the cost. They're not yet sure how much that cost will be, but they think it will be a lot.

"It's going to be very expensive for the city," Lynnwood finance director John Moir said.

The county is reducing its work force in 2009 by 160 people, with about half the cuts coming from layoffs and the other half through attrition. The county approved an $815 million budget last week, based on a forecast of $21 million less revenue coming in 2009 than in 2008.

The prosecutor's office is losing six deputy prosecuting attorneys out of 65, Ellis said. She was told early last week by the County Council to find an additional $385,000 to cut from her budget. Ellis said this brings the total cuts in her department to $1.3 million, about 9 percent of her budget, she said.

Ellis said her office will have to focus on prosecuting the more serious crimes, such as those that involve violence, felony drug cases and property crimes that involve large amounts of money, leaving smaller property crimes to the cities.

"I do not have the capacity to attend to these cases given the staffing that remains," Ellis said.

She sent a letter to city officials on Tuesday informing them of her decision. The prosecutor's office in King County has made a similar move with its budget, she said.

Lynnwood and Everett could be hard hit because each has a large indoor mall and other retail stores that are frequent targets for shoplifters.

"We don't have the numbers yet to know exactly, but we see it as a significant impact," Lynnwood court administrator Jill O'Cain said.

Ellis said the county expects to send 23.5 percent of all its property crimes to the cities. Based on recent averages, this means 184 cases per year to Everett, 103 to Lynnwood and 42 to Marysville, the three cities in the county with the most such cases, she said.

In addition to having to prosecute the cases, the cities will also have to pay for housing prisoners convicted of these crimes, which are felonies, O'Cain said. Currently the court handles only misdemeanors, such as traffic offenses, she said. The state and county pay for housing prisoners prosecuted and convicted of felonies at the county level, O'Cain said.

Everett spokeswoman Kate Reardon said the city is taking a wait-and-see attitude, depending on numbers.

Moir said passing the cost down to cities doesn't solve the problem.

"This is a classic example of how not to do things in government," he said. "It doesn't shift the cost, it just shifts who pays."

Ellis responded that the decision is the best of several bad options.

"I am very humble about this," she said. "I recognize that this is not work the cities are looking forward to receiving and it's not the work I'm looking forward to sending to them."

Adding to the problem is that this is coming after most cities are nearly finished writing their budgets and won't be able to figure in the cost. Rather, they'll have to find the money next year, officials said.

Lynnwood is getting close to approving its budget, Moir said. Marysville has already approved its spending plan for 2009.

"It's going to impact us, probably pretty significantly," Marysville city administrator Mary Swenson said.

Edmonds Mayor Gary Haakenson said Wednesday that city officials in the county were collaborating on a letter to send to the county. It hadn't yet been written, he said.

"We'll just express our dismay at the issue and we'll see what happens."

Reporter Bill Sheets: 425-339-3439 or sheets@heraldnet.com.
© 2009The Daily Herald Co., Everett, WA