ASOTIN - The city of Asotin hasn't made any decisions regarding continued contracts with Asotin County District Court, but the potential for additional fees from the county has left City Attorney Jane Richards wary of continuing to work with them.

At Monday's city council meeting, Richards warned that Asotin County District Court could legally impose additional fees for all court cases, and the city of Asotin would never get any of that money back.

"The county's portion of what the county has to pay is being reduced on everybody else's money," Richards said.

The county could charge fees for defendants who go on payment schedules to pay their court fines or supervision fees. Legally, the county is allowed to do this, she said.

"There's other courts that do the same thing to offset some of the costs of operating court," Richards said.

After the meeting, Richards said she heard the county could charge additional fees, but she hasn't seen any official notice stating they will.

"I would hope that they would give us some advance notice of it, but so far, I haven't seen any of it," Richards said.

Mayor Vikki Bonfield informed the council that Asotin County Commissioner Jim Fuller said he wanted to charge the city of Asotin $27,000 a year for court services. The city began looking at starting its own court after the county sought last summer to raise the fee for Asotin to file cases in District Court from $20 to $130.

Richards said setting up the city's own court would be the ideal solution if the startup costs are less than $27,000, but she hasn't yet determined if that is possible.

Councilor Jennifer Bly said she wanted to know how much it would cost to start the city's own District Court.

"I want a comparison. I want to see what it's going to cost to start up," she said. "The more I think about this, the more I think it's not a good idea."

Nailing down a location for court is usually the most expensive part of the process, Richards said, but the city of Asotin already has a space available in the council chambers.

"I think the biggest cost is going to be the manpower, is going to be how much it's going to cost to train the clerk," she said.

Additional costs would come with recording equipment and a contract with an attorney to act as judge. Richards said she would try to prepare exact figures for the next council meeting.

Richards said another benefit of a city-run court would come with having control over how the city's court cases are handled.

"At this point, we don't have any control over it. If the judge wants to put one of our people in jail and leave them in jail, that's the way it is," she said.

In other business Monday, the council voted 5-0 to approve Bonfield's signature on the agreement forming an advisory committee of first responders to better serve dispatch needs for Asotin County and the cities of Asotin and Clarkston.

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Embree may be contacted at cembree@lmtribune.com or (208) 848-2278.