In response to an impending $90 million budget shortfall, the King County Prosecutor announced that he has raised the limits on property and drug crimes that will be tried in superior court, passing the burden of court and jail costs to the cities.

King County Councilman and budget committee chairman Larry Philips said county criminal justice services account for over 71 percent of the $600 million general fund budget.

The King County Executive ordered all of the county criminal justice agencies to cut their budget for 2009 by 11.4 percent.

With the new filing standards, property and identity theft crimes under $1,000 will automatically be filed into municipal court and drug crimes over a certain amount will go into district court.

District and municipal courts can only charge people with misdemeanors, meaning crimes that would have been charged as a felony will only be charged as misdemeanors.

Property crimes from $1,000 to $5,000 dollars will be tried in district court where defendants will be given the option to plead guilty to a gross misdemeanor. If they refuse, then the case will go to superior court to be tried as a felony.

Des Moines Police Chief Roger Baker said people's behaviors are determined by the consequences and with the new filing standards he expects to see a rise in crime.

Baker said the police department's mission now will on deterring crime, as much as possible.

"Our strategy is to focus more on deterrents while possible, we are going to continue to enforce at all times," Baker said. "It is not the solution, but it will help."

The city, in addition to court costs will also have to the jail costs of anyone who is convicted by the city because of the new filing standards.

Des Moines Municipal Court Judge Veronica Alicea-Galvan said, in a presentation to the Des Moines City Council, that King County had originally indicated they would pay all or some of the jail costs, but had since reneged on that offer.

The Des Moines Municipal Court is expecting to see an additional 80 cases a year as a result of the new filing standards.

Alicea-Galvan said her court was understaffed by almost three people, even before the changed filing standards.

"We would like to see what happens in the next six months, I believe that our staff is talented enough and capable enough and able enough to at least absorb the impacts for now," Alicea-Galvan said. "I just don't want you to be surprised if in six months we come back in here and tell you we are drowning."

She added that hiring extra staff would not be a solution, as they would have nowhere to put them, they are working in cramped quarters as it is.

Tim George, Des Moines City prosecutor, said city officials are going to have to focus less on smaller theft, but they are not going to let cases fall through the cracks.

"We don't have the choice of saying we are not going to prosecute either," George said. "We are the last resort."

Burien District Court Judge Barbara Linde said she anticipates the impact to the district court to be small.

"I think the court will do an excellent job with these cases. It is just a resource drain," Linde said.

The county funds the district court, unlike municipal court that is paid for by the city.

Linde said that the county saves money by moving cases from superior to district court because the contract costs for a public defender are a lot less in district court. It increases the costs to the district court, but it saves in public defender costs, she said.

Also, the maximum jail time for a gross misdemeanor is a year, saving money in jail costs.

Phillips said the state cap of a one percent increase in property taxes a year, and unfunded state mandates were to blame for the county's $90 million budget deficit.

The worst budget shortfall before this year was $50 million dollars.

The money for the general fund comes exclusively from property taxes and Phillips said they simply couldn't keep up with funding programs they have on a one percent increase in revenues.

"We have scratched and clawed and put as many band aids on this situation as we can," Phillips said. "Public safety is at the heart of what local government is supposed to do, but because of the limited revenue stream we can't support it."

The county's budget has not been passed yet, there will be public meetings held throughout October and November to discuss the budget.

The closest meeting in this area will be at the Maleng Regional Justice Center, Courtroom 3F, 401 4th Avenue North, Kent on Oct. 16th at 7 p.m.