Cowlitz County proposes three-year phase-in of higher district court billing rates; cities press for detailed cost breakdown

Cowlitz County finance staff told the Board of Commissioners on Tuesday that the county plans to phase in higher district court billing rates over three years to reach full cost recovery, prompting city leaders to request more detailed cost breakdowns and a municipal–county working group.

The county’s finance director, Kathy Funk Baxter, said the county’s current billing methodology is not tied to actual, recent operating costs and that a cost-allocation update using 2024 financials would better reflect the true cost per case. “What I want what I'm proposing is we would always base it upon our total cost and the number of cases,” Baxter said.

The proposed change would raise the infraction and criminal per-case rates in two steps before reaching what the county described as the full-cost level. Baxter presented historical rates (the infraction rate cited as $36.39 and the criminal rate cited as $115.41), a first-step increase to $43.05 and $136.21, and an eventual full-cost target the presentation listed as roughly $61.70 and $219.94 for infractions and criminal cases respectively. County staff said the 2024 operating cost for the court was about $2.5 million and that the county currently accounts for roughly 73% of the court’s caseload.

City officials urged greater transparency and more granular categories before accepting the increases. Paul Howard, mayor of Castle Rock, criticized the timing and asked the county to consider using other county funds to soften the increase: “You guys are taking 7,500,000.0 out of that landfill, and I think you could make up this difference with that,” Howard said. Todd (representing the city of Woodland) said his city’s revenue has not risen 20%, calling the proposed increases difficult to absorb: “The city of Woodland budget has not increased 20%,” he said.

Longview and Kelso representatives likewise asked for more detail. Chris Collins of Longview requested a line-item budget and a longer historical trend line so municipalities can see what has driven cost changes over time. Andrew Hamilton of Kelso asked for better information on what steps the cities can take to reduce case volume, noting investments such as therapeutic courts.

County staff and several commissioners agreed to modify the phase-in from two years to three years after municipal feedback. The board did not adopt a formal ordinance; instead, staff said they would prepare the requested detail, break out case types more granularly (for example separating DUI and other criminal charges), provide multi-year trend data, and convene a working group of municipal leaders and county staff to review the allocation methodology. “We can look back on the past. We can try to determine how it was done in the past,” Baxter said, adding that staff would provide quarterly bills that include case counts so cities can track year-to-date activity.

Discussion items for follow-up included: (1) providing a line-item breakdown of court operating costs and personnel; (2) more granular case-type billing (to distinguish high-cost case types such as DUI); (3) documentation of the historical methodology used to set prior rates; and (4) formation of a municipal–county committee to review the proposed methodology and results. County staff said they would prepare the additional materials and convene interested municipal representatives for a technical review before returning to the full board.

The board’s discussion closed with broad agreement to provide the additional materials and to allow municipal representatives a role in evaluating the new cost-allocation approach. No formal vote to adopt new rates occurred during the meeting.