City Government
Ada Sues Boise, Meridian, Garden City
December 27, 2010 
Ada County has sent Christmas Greetings to Boise, Garden City, and Meridian in the form of a lawsuit and a demand the cities pay up millions of dollars for magistrate court facilities provided by Ada County.
The lawsuit was filed last week in Fourth District court and is part of a long festering feud between the cities (mostly Boise) and Ada County.
One of the documents is a “Complaint for Declaratory Relief” to enforce a 1994 administrative order for the local municipalities to provide magistrate court facilities. Boise has previously lost (in the Idaho Supreme Court) its attempt to avoid the payments and ended up settling with the commishes for previous debt.
The current action seeks “Damages and costs for the past 4 years” from Garden City and Meridian. It also seeks $2.48 million for fiscal 2010 from Boise and $495,000 each from Garden City and Meridian.
According to the court documents, Boise city accounts for 50% of all magistrate court cases, Ada County brings 30% while Garden City and Meridian each are liable for 10% each. The county also seeks to includeboth criminal and civil cases in the definition of magistrate court which runs the bill up considerably…this would include divorce, small claims, and other minor disputes.
Politicos from both Boise and Ada County have written opposing op-ed viewpoints in the Idaho Statesman during the past few weeks. Boise claims “double taxation,” Ada County claims the cities violate a court order.
All tolled, the magistrate court costs $6.6 million a year to operate according to court records.
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Comments & Discussion
Comments are closed for this post.
Dec 27, 2010, 5:22 pm
If the cities receive the revenue from the courts then they need to pay up for the costs of court operations in proportion to the numbers of cases they have.
As far as I am concerned they need to pay for the jail operations in direct porportion to the numbers of inmates housed in the county jail.
Dec 27, 2010, 10:08 pm
“All tolled, the magistrate court costs $6.6 million a year to operate according to court records.”
Guardian, I think you meant “told,” but tolled makes a nice pun under the circumstances 🙂
EDITOR NOTE–I meant what I said, but what I said wasn’t actually proper, although it was correct. “Tolled” as in added up rather than explained or disclosed. Pun intended.
Dec 27, 2010, 10:35 pm
It sort of pains me to say this but,” bring team dave to it’s knees” commishes! It is the lesser of two evils here. Hey dave, what goes around, comes around!!!!
Dec 27, 2010, 11:18 pm
If Boise has to pay these amounts it leaves less for the Mayor and Council to “play with” in regard to their pet projects…..and look for your levy amounts to go up again. So much for any fiscal conservatism in Boise.
Dec 28, 2010, 12:19 am
bieter, not the Guardian! If I were referring to the Guardian, I would use “caps”!
Dec 28, 2010, 12:33 pm
Oh goody! The taxpayers of Boise, Meridian and Garden City get to pay for legal fees to settle another lawsuit. Not to mention Ada County legal fees for the parties involved. This brings to mind the lawsuit between Settlers Irrigation Dist. and ACHD. No matter what happens WE PAY for it. Carry on public servants. sigh