Blaine County is out more than $93,000 in legal expenses in its failed funding plan for a new county jail.
In addition to the county's own attorney fees, 5th District Court Judge Barry Wood ordered the county earlier this month to pay more than $23,000 in attorney fees to Kate Rosekrans, the Hailey woman who prevailed in the court fight against the funding plan. That money will go to Hailey attorney Fritz Haemmerle, who out-argued a Boise law firm to win the case.
The Boise law firm of Moore, Smith, Buxton and Turcke has charged Blaine County more than $70,000 in the county's doomed attempt to fund a new law enforcement complex in Hailey.
"I told them when this whole thing started they would lose, period," Haemmerle said Wednesday. "There was no case precedent for them to proceed on this."
His prediction came true in July when Wood ruled that the county's funding plan was illegal.
The county had intended to fund the proposed facility by borrowing money and repaying it with surplus budget funds.
The new facility, estimated to cost about $9.5 million, would house the sheriff's office, a jail to accommodate 85 inmates and a new communications center for Blaine County, Bellevue, Hailey, Ketchum and Sun Valley law enforcement and emergency services agencies.
Meanwhile, county commissioners are considering a new plan suggested by Sheriff Walt Femling to fund the proposed facility with a one-half-percent local option sales tax.
If the commissioners approve Femling's proposal, the issue could be presented to Blaine County voters as early as the November general election. A two-thirds majority is required for passage.
Commission Vice Chairman Tom Bowman said a local option sales tax increase has always been an option for funding a new law enforcement complex, but county officials opted last fall to use surplus funds because many constituents were not in favor of raising taxes.
"We don't have any regrets because we took the best advice we could find," Bowman said.
Haemmerle doesn't agree and said that county officials were talked into the funding plan by their attorney, Michael Moore.
Haemmerle further said that the county could have saved money had they relied on the Blaine County Prosecuting Attorney's Office to argue the issue rather than a Boise law firm.
"There was no reason to go to outside counsel at all," Haemmerle said. "I think they've got some really good attorneys in the prosecutor's office."
According to the Blaine County Clerk's Office, the law firm of Moore, Smith, Buxton and Turcke has charged the county $70,603 to date.
Haemmerle's fees were about one-third as much at $23,044.
"I guess I didn't charge enough," Haemmerle said.
