Serving Whitman County since 1877
Serving Whitman County since 1877
Pullman considers creating municipal court
PULLMAN - The Pullman city council reviewed information about ending a contract with Whitman County District Court to make a municipal court.
"It's something they have been thinking about off and on for some time," said Whitman County Prosecutor Denis Tracy.
Last year a study was done on the benefits and costs of creating a municipal court by consultant Anne Pflug. She was assisted by Washington State University student Megan Parks, who created a similar report on Aug. 24.
Municipal courts handle traffic tickets, misdemeanor crimes, and city code violations.
"Whitman County has been providing prosecution, indigent defense, adjudication, sentencing, and incarceration services to the City of Pullman for misdemeanor and gross misdemeanor offenses committed by adults in Pullman and referred from the city to the county," states the report.
Parks concluded the benefits for Pullman are "local control (philosophy, consistency)," "selection criteria would include alignment with adopted city criminal justice approach," "implementation of more restorative justice practices ...:" and "intervention programs to target high volume case – may reduce costs."
Projected costs are $209,931 for start-up and the first year costing $485,792, according to Parks.
The current contract with Whitman County District Court, which runs through 2022, costs Pullman $471,060 annually.
"I'd be surprised if it only costs a little bit more. If they can do it for less money then that's great," said Tracy. "If they could get the same level of service for less money, then that would be the best use of taxpayers' money. But I'm very skeptical."
Parks noted there is potential for a higher cost than her base estimate.
"There is a risk of between $330,000 to $526,000 additional costs in the first five years if outstanding cases and financial obligations are not transferred from district court at startup," she wrote.
Additional potential risks include "customer confusion" about two courts handling misdemeanors and parking infractions, accessibility for people needing to drive to Colfax after being ticketed by law enforcement, and "change in judge may result in higher jail costs depending on judges' judicial philosophy," wrote Parks.
"I don't know what to make about her comparisons," said Tracy.
Pullman is at the early stages of discussion. The city council would have to approve the creation and begin negotiating existing contracts and new ones to facilitate the change.
"I'd be very surprised if they could get the same level of service for the same price anywhere else," Tracy said. "One reason that we are able to provide the service that we do is because of the economy of scale that comes with providing the services for the whole county at the same level as what we do for the City of Pullman."
He said he wants what is best for the county and Pullman.
"If the city opens up its own municipal court, it would make it easier here because we wouldn't have to prosecute those cases. As a taxpayer (living) in Pullman, I hope they will be cautious with taxpayers' funds and carefully examine the numbers."
Bill Stevenson is the former editor of the Whitman County Gazette, Colfax Daily Bulletin and Franklin Connection. He has nearly 30 years of journalism experience covering news in Eastern Washington.
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