Public and assessor raise questions about legal costs from recent court dispute; commissioners decline to answer during public comment

During public comment at the March 19 special meeting, members of the public and Assessor Bayla Kovacs urged the board to disclose the county’s legal costs from a recent case that reached the Idaho Supreme Court.

Public commenter Tim Ploss, identifying himself as a Rathdrum resident and recent county commissioner candidate, asked the board to tell taxpayers “what was the cost that was incurred by taking his case all the way to the Supreme Court,” adding that he suspected the amount could be “hundreds of thousands.” Bayla Kovacs, speaking later in public comment as the county assessor, said she had requested the total cost and that she was being asked to pay certain fees, which “is only going to increase the cost further.” Kovacs asked individually whether the firm Lake City Law was on retainer with the board; the chair declined to answer during public comment, saying he was “not prepared to answer that question right now.”

Another public speaker (Paragheath), a local Republican district official and writer, urged elected officials to “bury the hatchet” and work across the spectrum to resolve long-running administrative problems in the assessor’s office. The board did not provide the requested accounting during the meeting.

Ending

Commissioners did not provide an on-the-spot accounting of litigation costs during public comment and indicated those kinds of inquiries require follow-up through staff offices.