Kootenai County amends resolution on assessor’s outside counsel funding, requires memo with spending limits

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…