Loans don't warrant prosecution

SANDPOINT — Bonner County Prosecutor Louis Marshall is flatly rejecting demands for county commissioners to be criminally prosecuted for effecting $3.1 million in inter-fund loans that appear to be illegal.

Marshall said he’s heard calls in the community for the board to be prosecuted, but contends such talk is foolishness.

Marshall is no stranger to prosecuting public officials who break the law. Most recently, he served as special prosecutor in a Latah County case against a sheriff’s official who stole public funds. He also prosecuted a Kootenai County deputy clerk for embezzlement.

But making a bad decision despite the best intentions and legal advice available is a far cry from knowingly and intentionally breaking the law.

“We’re talking apples and oranges here. We’re talking about a business decision that was made by a prior board. It’s not a criminal act, so I think people are a little off track,” Marshall said.

Commissioners here are caught in a dilemma over inter-fund transfers from the solid waste budget to finance construction of the new juvenile detention facility and remodeling of the courthouse.

Marshall’s office, in addition to the Idaho Attorney General’s Office and Bonner County’s bond counsel, pored over the legality of the inter-fund loans and determined they are likely illegal.

As a result, Marshall is recommending the loans not be paid back because doing so would violate the same statute the county appears to have violated.

Commissioners are set to resume discussion of the matter on Tuesday.

Although municipalities in Idaho can do long-term inter-fund transfers, counties cannot.

Marshall suggested legislators would have to amend the law in order to allow counties to engage in long-term inter-fund transfers, but county Commissioner Mike Nielsen said that the practice is also barred by the Idaho Constitution.

“To change the law to allow these transfers, it goes directly against the constitutional protection of putting a tax burden on the people that they didn’t vote for,” said Nielsen.