Let’s clarify court’s ties with jail

I would like to correct some misimpressions contained in a recent article ("City considers contracting out court services," Auburn Reporter, May 4) about the Auburn Municipal Court.

May 9, 2012 9:40 pm

I would like to correct some misimpressions contained in a recent article (“City considers contracting out court services,” Auburn Reporter, May 4) about the Auburn Municipal Court.

The issue driving the discussion is SCORE (South Correctional Entity Multijurisdictional Misdemeanant Jail). It is a public development agency created by the cities of Auburn, Burien, Des Moines, Federal Way, Renton, SeaTac and Tukwila to build and operate a regional jail facility starting in 2011.

The Auburn Municipal Court was not involved in any way in the decision to create and operate SCORE. The Auburn Municipal Court does not and has never operated Auburn’s jail. More than seven million of the $10 million mentioned in the article are costs associated with SCORE.

SCORE has proven to be far more expensive than originally represented. The cost to house an inmate has gone from roughly $70 per day to an average of $115 per day with no assurance it will not continue to rise.

In addition, the City has obligated itself to pay a 30-year bond to construct a jail. The annual bond payment in 2013 will be in excess of $1 1/2 million. The City estimates its jail costs will rise from $3,859,266 in 2010 (prior to SCORE) to $7,139,615 in 2013. It does not matter who is operating the court, the City is still responsible for its share of the operating and bond costs of SCORE. The City is responsible for SCORE’s operating costs on a proportional basis.

The court has not changed its sentencing priorities. The daily jail population fluctuates considerably, but over the last 10 years it has remained at a fairly constant number of about 100. The number of people supervised by the probation department has remained fairly constant at 700.

The cost of operating the court and the probation department has increased somewhat in recent years, but so have case filings, the duties performed by the court and the revenue produced by the court.

The Auburn Municipal Court is not responsible for the $3 1/4 million annual increase in the cost if providing jail services in Auburn between 2010 and 2013.

– Patrick Burns, Auburn Municipal Court Presiding Judge