Kootenai County commissioners on Oct. 21 approved a revised resolution authorizing the assessor to pursue outside legal counsel for seven pending assessment-appeal lawsuits, replacing open-ended language with a requirement that the board provide specific spending limits in a separate, privileged memo.

The vote was unanimous: Commissioner Eberline, Commissioner Duncan and Chair Metoyer voted in favor. The resolution (listed in the meeting as Resolution 2025-80) was amended on the floor to substitute language tying appropriation amounts to a memo to be delivered to the assessor and to remove a paragraph the commissioners described as redundant.

The change followed an extended discussion about whether the resolution, as drafted, could be read to give the assessor unlimited spending authority. Assessor Kovacs told the board he had “0 budget in my adopted budget” for outside attorney fees and said that creating obligations without an adopted appropriation left him at risk. Kovacs also said he had provided supporting materials and prior budget documents to the board and that some of the lawsuits date back several years.

Pat Braden, deputy prosecuting attorney, advised the board on statutory and procedural limits. “The appropriation of the amount permitted is always up to the Board of County Commissioners,” Braden said, adding that the resolution’s language did not itself set or limit an appropriation and that appropriation authority remained with the board.

Commissioners pressed for clearer budgetary limits and for a litigation strategy discussion. Chair Metoyer said statements implying that the assessor was being denied funding were “a little bit disingenuous,” but supported the change so the board would provide clear dollar limits to the assessor’s counsel. Commissioner Duncan said he favored keeping the consistent language used in prior resolutions and requested that the board hold a strategy session next week to align on objectives, estimated litigation costs and how funds would be apportioned among cases.

The board referenced two prior related actions, Resolution 2023-396 and Resolution 2024-478, and agreed to incorporate the approach used in those resolutions: communicate case-by-case spending limits to the assessor via privileged counsel memo. The commissioners also removed a paragraph they considered redundant that had authorized the assessor to “do all things necessary to defend and/or resolve the above reference cases.”

After the vote, Brandy Falcon clarified for the record that the county does have an accounting ledger line for legal services (account 8103) and that expenses for retained outside counsel will be charged to that account. The meeting then moved to public comment and adjourned.

Discussion points (not actions): commissioners and the assessor agreed to schedule another meeting next week to discuss litigation strategy, anticipated costs and how specific appropriations will be handled going forward. Assessor Kovacs said several of the cases had been litigated or mediated intermittently since 2019 and that past settlements had amounted — in his tally — to roughly $263,000 in shifted tax dollars, a figure he presented as background for the board’s deliberations.

The board’s formal action was limited to approving Resolution 2025-80 as amended: substitute language requiring a separate privileged memo listing spending limits and deletion of the redundant paragraph. No specific dollar amount was appropriated in the resolution itself during the Oct. 21 vote.