New Committee To Find Solutions To Criminal Justice Budget

The Yakima County Commissioners on Tuesday are expected to talk about a newly formed a committee tasked with finding solutions to the counties ever growing money monster called criminal justice...it's called the law and justice panel review committee..Commissioner Mike Leita says the county has had to spend millions of dollars on court costs and a recent upgrade in court security...the security upgrades are only one part of a county budget that's dedicated to criminal justice...an article in the Yakima Herald Republic says more than 80 percent of the county budget is now spent on criminals...criminal trials and procedures...leaving very few dollars to actually operate other parts of the county. the panel is hoping to come up with some budgetary answers sometime this spring.