HEAD TAX TAKES BACK SEAT TO JUDGE POSITION

By Evan McLean
Staff writer

    The Clallam County commissioners have agreed to grease the judicial rails at the courthouse by adding a third Superior Court judge position.

    Commissioners Mike Doherty and Steve Tharinger voted for the resolution with Mike Chapman in dissent.

    Voters will decide who fills the position this fall. The position is open to any attorney licensed to practice in Washington state who is a registered voter in the county. The filing period for all elected positions is June 4-8.

    The resolution approves funding, not only for the third judge position, but also for a clerk, a technician and a part-time typist.

    Tharinger has been in favor of getting a new judge since the state Legislature approved funding half of the position?s salary earlier this year. The other commissioners weren?t ready and requested more information from a subcommittee.

    ?After the Law and Justice Council meeting last week, I began to see where we were moving toward establishing a sustainable revenue flow,? Doherty said. ?For my vote, that was a big deal.?

     Clallam County?s Law and Justice Council renewed its call for a third Superior Court judge position while pushing back a proposal for a criminal justice sales tax for least one year.

    Council members, including judges, police, attorneys and elected leaders, voted in support of funding the judge position at their May 8 meeting, sending the funding ball back to the county commissioners.

    The state Legislature approved the third judge position two years ago and included funding for half the salary in this year?s budget. County commissioners were reluctant to approve matching funds for the position, estimated at $124,000, stating they did not want to pit the court system against other financially strapped county law and justice divisions.

    Commissioners suggested including funding for the position with the sales tax, that at one point might have been on the ballot this fall, to fund overall upgrades in county law and justice.

    Judges Ken Williams and George Wood maintained that state funding for other operations within the court system over the past three years should have eased the county law and justice budget enough for a third judge position.

    ?By showing where the funds are coming from and where they will be used in the system, the judges showed that their priority position could be filled in 2008,? Doherty said. ?Most of the pay is coming out of mental health funds and we also have $84,000 a year to improve the court system to help pay for the judge and clerk.?

    County Administrator Jim Jones cited I-747, capping property tax increases at 1 percent, as one reason why the county has had problems increasing revenue for law and justice to keep up with the surrounding growth. He said that within the six years of I-747?s jurisdiction, the cost of core government, like law and justice, has gone up significantly more than 1 percent.

    ?Before I-747, Law and Justice made up 57 percent of the county?s budget while it is more like 66 percent now,? Jones said. ?The state has indicated that we are to make up the loss from the 1 percent in other ways, like fees or retail sales tax.?

    Although the sales tax increase is shelved for a year, the Sheriff?s Office still is looking to upgrade some services, such as at the correctional facility. Jail supervisor Ron Sukert said that improvements will be made to the jail but renovation plans are being changed to fit the budget. Bids for the project came in at more than $1 million over budget. After current renovations are completed, the jail will have a net increase of 25 to 30 beds.

    The jail expansion is a priority for the Sheriff?s Office as it continues to send prisoner overflow to the Forks facility. Tharinger said that by improving the court system, overcrowding may become a bigger problem before a solution is reached.

    ?There is a lot going on behind just hiring a new judge,? Tharinger said. ?We will be looking at things like how this will affect the already over-stressed jail system once prosecution begins to become streamlined.?

    But Doherty said that the third position likely would cover civil and mental health cases.

    ?The judges did a good job of representing what the third position would cover,? Doherty said. ?Since you don?t usually jail people for civil matters and because criminal cases take precedence to civil cases, there may not be a dramatic increase in people headed to the jail.?

    The civil case calendar has been backed up for years because criminal cases go through the system first. Doherty said that with jail expansion delays, he hopes to see the judicial system continue to look further into monitoring alternatives to incarceration.

    For questions regarding filing for elections contact, Patty Rosand, county auditor, at 417-2222 or Shoona Radon, election supervisor, at 417-2217.