Budget update: County terminates court contracts with cities

King County Executive Ron Sims' Budget Update

County terminates court contracts with cities

Feb. 28, 2002

Following is the text of the letter King County Executive Ron Sims sent to 17 cities informing them that due to the county's current financial condition, the county will terminate its agreement to provide court services, effective Dec. 31, 2004.

Feb. 28, 2002

Dear City/Mayor,

King County, as you know, is facing an unprecedented financial crisis. We face shortfalls this year, and are confronted with a $50 million deficit for 2003. On Monday we announced that we could no longer afford to reopen all of our parks closed for the winter. Other mid-year reductions will follow.

In addition, King County has been working hard in Olympia to address the issue of unfunded mandates created by the Legislature and the financial impact that they have had as well. We are asking that either the mandates be reduced or funding accompany them. A perfect case in point is King County’s District Court. State law mandates that King County have 26 judges.

While several weeks remain in the legislative session, we may not be successful in efforts at the State Legislature to bring about a reduction in the number of judicial positions required by State Law to operate our District Court. In 1990 there were eight municipal courts in the county. There are now twenty. Over this same period of time, the number of judges King County is required by State law to maintain has increased from 24 to 26. It is critical that we reduce the number of King County judicial positions to reflect this shift in workload that has occurred away from the District Court to the municipal courts. I am aware that many of the cities share these concerns about unnecessary costs in the District Courts.

Our calculations indicate that the maximum number of full time elected judicial positions actually needed for King County’s own District Court workload (i.e., exclusive of the contracted workload) is no more than 18. If we assumed we needed to also elect judges to meet the current city contract workload in addition to County workload we would need less than 23 judicial positions. We currently have 26 mandated elected judicial positions. The elected judges would serve through 2007 but city contracts currently end in 2004 unless they are renewed.

Even these calculated levels of judicial positions are subject to question because about seventy percent of the filings in the District Court are traffic infractions that arguably could be more efficiently handled by a magistrate. Unless the State-mandated number of judicial positions is reduced this year the County will be required to provide 26 elected judges through 2007 because all the positions are up for election this fall.

The County currently provides court services to the cities that contract with us at a loss. Given our fiscal crisis we cannot continue to do this. Because of our apparent inability to get our judicial costs down, we are concerned that your city be given adequate notice to begin planning to provide your own municipal court services if that is your desire. The County will of course be willing to continue providing the services on condition that we are able to recover our costs fully.

I desire to give each city adequate forewarning of this circumstance so that you have time to plan for other court alternatives if that is your desire. Accordingly, pursuant to Subsection 1.1 of the interlocal agreement for provision of District Court services between King County and the City of Bellevue, this letter is formal notice of King County’s intent to terminate those services effective December 31, 2004. We are happy to further discuss the County’s intentions in sending this letter. But primarily notice of termination is being done to provide as much notice as possible to you to allow you to pursue the best option for your city. While we hope that would be to continue contracting with the County we recognize your need for plenty of time to address your options.

We are terminating the agreement because King County’s current financial condition does not allow us to extend any contractual obligations that do not provide for full cost recovery. Because of unanticipated court services costs, including the excessive judicial positions and court security, the current agreement no longer provides for full cost recovery and appears to be getting worse.

We are providing much earlier notice of termination than is required by the agreement for two reasons. First, we want cities to have ample time, if you choose to plan for and create municipal courts before the expiration of the current agreement. Second, the County is willing to enter into a new agreement that provides full cost recovery of the County’s District Court costs. If the City of Bellevue is interested in a new agreement, we would appreciate receiving a letter so indicating your interest as soon as possible. Any new agreements should be negotiated by no later than July 2002, so that the County can prepare intermediate term financial plans, capital plans, and court redistricting plans needed as a result of changes in the amount and distribution of the Court’s work load.

Please call if you desire further information or have questions. I hope you will continue to contract with us for these court services. But we will understand if you do not. We look forward to hearing from you.

Sincerely,

Ron Sims
King County Executive

Enclosure: map (181K .pdf)

cc: The Honorable Wesley Saint Clair, Presiding Judge, King County District Court
The Honorable Cynthia Sullivan, Chair, King County Council

Updated: Feb. 28, 2002

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