COEUR D’ALENE, IDAHO — In a town hall event at the Kootenai County Administration Building on November 1, 2023, Commissioner Bruce Mattare, Clerk Jennifer Locke, Prosecutor Stan Mortensen, and Sheriff Bob Norris, spoke about the functions of their offices, as well as staffing and budget challenges, county service levels, and how population growth affects their offices.
“When the elected officials are working together, your county government runs the best,” Mattare stated in his opening remarks.
All county governments are an extension of the state. The county is mandated, by policies enacted by the state legislators, to provide certain services. These services are split into seven different county offices, where 36 departments provide the daily functions of county government.
The county has a $141 million annual budget, which includes $31 million for the solid waste department. Roughly $72 million of the remaining budget is spent on justice services, which span the commissioner, sheriff, clerk, and prosecutor offices.
The community’s focus at the town hall was quickly narrowed down to concerns about growth.
In response to a community member’s concern about infrastructure not supporting the current builds that are being approved, Mattare said, “The cities can annex land, and the county has zero say over that.” Once land is annexed, the city can rezone, and approve structure builds, regardless of whether the current infrastructure supports the increased traffic or safe accessibility.
“My hope is that … we can get the cities and the county to work together on future plans that really lay out what the entire community wants, and not just what the city wants at the expense of the county,” stated Mattare.
According to the four elected officials, any growth in population will result in more crime. “In my experience, certain types of growth lead to a higher percentage of demands on police, EMS, and fire responses,” stated Norris.
In respect to the Sheriff’s Office, Norris is mandated to keep the peace and operate the county jail, or as he calls it, “a small city.” Round-the-clock services are provided by the county Sheriff’s Office, both to the public, and to those in custody. Currently, there are over 500 inmates being housed in a facility designed for 361 inmates, 80 percent of which are felony detainees. This creates fatigue amongst staff, as well as increased incidences within the inmate population.
The sheriff confirmed that cities do not ask for any impact statements from county officials to assess what their changes in zoning and approved structure builds do to county offices and service levels.
To put the growth into perspective, Norris explained it is typical to need one jail bed for every 125 residential units, and the last jail build cost $80,000 per bed. He then referenced the 1,400 unit build in Hayden, and the 2,400-2,500 unit build in Coeur d’Alene. Simple math shows those density builds, approved by cities without consideration to impact on county services, will cost the county $2.5 million in construction costs alone for additional beds at the jail.
The costs to the clerk’s and the prosecutor’s offices also soar with density growth. Locke’s official title is the Clerk of the District Court. Seventy-five of the clerk’s employees work within the district court services, compared to only four full-time staff in the Elections Department.
The prosecutor stressed that the growth situation directly impacts his ability to properly staff the office. Mortensen shared that the cost of living far outpaces what he can offer in salary. “I have the ability to hire new attorneys … at $78,000, and I am not getting applications.”
This staff shortage is directly related to the high housing costs in Kootenai County, the growth in cases that need prosecuted, and which cases are prioritized. Mortensen explained that felonies and misdemeanors have different statutes of limitations, which plays a role in when charges are prosecuted, and priority is given to felony charges.
There are 30 prosecutor positions, which include the prosecuting attorney, 25 criminal prosecutors, and four civil prosecutors. Currently, the office is short one-fifth of their criminal prosecutor positions, with only 20 staff handling the case load of 25.
Both Norris and Mortensen addressed the district court judges’ abilities to place convicted criminals on the Rider Program at sentencing. This is a program that allows the court to retain jurisdiction of a convicted individual, which is exacerbating the overpopulation at the jail.
According to officials, the Rider Program has a high recidivism rate, and judges from the First District Court in Kootenai County account for the majority of all those placed on the Rider Program in Idaho. Judges are granting leniency in sentencing using a program that provides treatment instead of lengthy prison sentences, but has higher recidivism rates then felons who serve out a prison sentence. This means felons who serve prison terms commit fewer offenses upon release, than felons given treatment and minimum time in jail under the Rider Program.
Readers can review the entire townhall event via the video recording posted on Kootenai County’s YouTube channel.
