Cowlitz County to phase in higher district court billing rates after method review; cities press for details

Cowlitz County finance officials told county commissioners they will move district court billing to a cost-allocation method and phase higher rates in over three years to better match the court's actual operating costs.

Kathy Funk Baxter, Cowlitz County finance director, presented the proposal and said the county plans to calculate rates from the most recent completed fiscal year and weight criminal cases higher because they require more staff time. "What I'm proposing is we would always base it upon our total cost and the number of cases," she said.

Under the plan presented, the county would bill a higher interim rate for 2026 and continue phased increases so the jurisdictions reach full cost over multiple years. Baxter said the county's most recent completed-year cost was about $2.5 million and that current per-case fees have not been updated in several years; those older rates were $36.39 for infractions and $115.41 for criminal cases.

City leaders said the increases are large for municipal budgets and asked for more detail. Paul Howard, mayor of Castle Rock, urged the county to consider using other county revenues to ease the hit for cities. Todd (city manager, Woodland) asked for an accounting of what is driving a roughly 20% increase in court costs since 2020; he said city revenues have not grown at that rate.

City of Longview representative Chris Collins and Andrew Hamilton of Kelso asked for a more granular breakdown of case types and costs (for example, DUI versus other criminal charges) so municipalities can see what drives the higher-cost case types. Collins said a line-item budget and a longer historical series of cost data would help cities assess the change.

Commissioners and staff agreed to phase the increases over three years rather than two, collect and share more granular cost information, and convene a small committee of municipal representatives and county staff to review the detailed breakdown before finalizing rates. Chief Yuta and other municipal officials indicated they would participate in that review.

County staff said they will base each year's rate on the prior fiscal year's actual costs and caseload counts, provide quarterly reporting to municipalities, and finalize rates by October for the next budget year. Baxter said the methodology will subtract any reimbursements or state funding before allocating costs to jurisdictions.

The discussion ended with county staff agreeing to provide the towns and cities a history of past methodologies and a more detailed line-item breakdown of district court operating costs so the municipalities can examine the proposals before they are adopted.