Public defender funding bantered

COEUR d'ALENE — The future of public defense funding was among the topics discussed Wednesday when county and state officials met to discuss topics of mutual interest.

County Commissioner Dan Green said that, as the Idaho State Public Defense Commission develops standards for public defense, he is concerned about possible future funding woes that counties would be saddled with.

"You'll hear, from other counties that don't have our sophistication, that there are not enough dollars to go around," Green told state legislators and other officials during the meeting at The Coeur d'Alene Resort.

"I am concerned about the county absorbing the costs as standards continue to rise. The county will be left holding the bag."

Kootenai County recently received a grant of more than $300,000 to assist with public defense cases, and Green said it's needed.

"We appreciate the dollars very much, but we're not sure if it will be enough when the new standards are adopted," he said, adding that such a funding source is only guaranteed to last for four years. "Be cognizant as this moves forward. It will become a big issue for counties across the state to meet the standards. This is not going to go away nor will the cost go down."

Green said when he took office in 2011 the county budgeted $50,000 for cases that were passed on by the county's Public Defender's Office to contract attorneys due to a conflict of interest. He said that amount is now $700,000. Green said about 16 percent of cases are now referred out due to conflicts.

The state public defense commission, created in 2014, is tasked with creating rules for training standards for defending attorneys; uniform data reporting requirements; requirements for contracts with defending attorneys; the distribution and management of state funding; oversight, enforcement, creation and modification of indigent defense standards; administrative review; and standards for defending attorneys. This year the commission is proposing a rule on standards for defending attorneys.

County Commissioner David Stewart said he's pleased the county received the funding help, but he believes it's a conflict of interest for county commissioners to control the budget for both the Prosecutor's Office and the Public Defender's Office.

"I don't believe we as a board should have that authority," he said. "It should be taken over by the state."

Looking ahead to the Legislature that starts in January, Sen. Steve Vick, R-Dalton Gardens, told the county officials that, based on conversations with other legislators, it appears there will be efforts to reduce the income tax, increase the exemption on personal property tax and raise the gas tax. Vick said he doesn't expect grocery tax relief to be floated because House leadership is adamantly opposed to the move.

Kootenai County Assessor Mike McDowell said the statewide assessor's association he's a part of is interested in having the ability to declare small model mobile homes (roughly 10-by-40 in size) as real property.

"There is nothing in the code that says this has to be titled," he said of such structures. "We want to have a mechanism like there is for mobile homes that shows, 'This is mine,' and gives owners the ability to sell them."

Green said county governments are actually arms of the state government. He said since 82 percent of the county's budget goes toward services that are mandated from the state, it's critical that county and state officials communicate on topics of mutual interest.

"It's important that we, as county commissioners, build good relations with the state legislators," Green said.

The meeting also helped future county commissioners Chris Fillios and Bob Bingham and future state legislator Paul Amador, who were all elected last week, be informed on topics involving both the state and county.