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Assessor litigation funding contested; commissioners to consider executive session before finalizing legal contingency
Summary
The assessor and budget staff debated whether to budget $140,000 for legal services in the assessor's FY26 budget. The assessor warned that the board had already contracted counsel and would need funds to pay invoices; commissioners proposed handling the matter as a contingency or in an executive session before the final budget.
COEUR D'ALENE, Idaho ' A dispute over the assessor's FY26 legal-services line prompted the Board of Commissioners on July 11 to schedule an executive-session update and to treat litigation expenses as contingent while they finalize the budget.
Budget staff reviewed the assessor's line items and said the assessor had budgeted $140,000 for legal services. Based on trend coding of invoices, staff suggested much litigation-related spending had been booked to a separate witness-payments account and proposed reducing the legal-services line in the assessor's budget and treating litigation as a contingency.
Assessor Veil Kovacs objected, telling commissioners the board had already created obligations and the assessor was working with a contracted attorney. "If the Commissioner set that budget to 0 in legal expenses, I have an obligation that was executed by the Board of County Commissioners. Now I will have no means to pay it," Kovacs said. Kovacs noted he had previously provided the board with a resolution and confidential memorandums related to the cases.
Commissioners proposed holding an executive session to review litigation details before July 23; staff and the assessor discussed scheduling constraints tied to statutory budget deadlines. One commissioner suggested using contingency funds for any invoices that arrive before the board completes executive-session review.
Ending: The board agreed to schedule an executive-session update on litigation and to treat legal spending for open cases as a contingent item while final budget actions are pending.
