Court Opinion

ID: 9787307
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-31 00:14:30.337276+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:36:54.552513
License: Public Domain

TROUT, Justice.
This case arose after Twin Falls County (County) asked the cities of Twin Falls, Kimberly, Hansen, Filer, and Buhl (Cities) to increase their contributions to the County for the Cities’ proportionate use of the County’s courthouse facilities. The district judges ordered the Cities to pay a portion of the costs of operating the magistrate’s division located within the County’s courthouse. Because we *399conclude the district judges were without statutory authority to order the Cities to reimburse the County for these expenses, we reverse.
I.
FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND
There is only one County courthouse facility for Twin Falls County, the Theron Ward Judicial Building. This building houses the district court as well as the magistrate’s division of the district court. The County provides facilities, equipment, personnel, supplies, and other expenses to operate the entire facility for both the district court and the magistrate’s division. The Cities use the magistrate’s division to process misdemeanor and infraction eases, and for various civil proceedings. In the past, the Cities have reimbursed the County for a proportionate share of the cost of maintaining the courthouse attributable to use of the magistrate division.
In April of 1995, the County requested an increased contribution from the Cities for the cost of operating the magistrate’s division. Initially, the County and Cities were unable to reach an agreement over costs. After a district judge ordered the parties to come to an agreement or appear before the assembled panel of district judges for a hearing, the parties reached an agreement. Nevertheless, in 2003, the County concluded the 1995 cost-sharing agreement was outdated and requested an order reflecting current costs. The district judges issued an order adjusting the Cities’ contributions based upon the County’s calculations. The Cities objected to the amount of the ordered reimbursement and, once again, a district judge ordered the parties to either negotiate costs for fiscal year 2003-2004 and determine a self-executing formula for future years, or appear before an assembled panel of district judges for a hearing. This time, attempts to negotiate failed. A hearing was held in which the parties presented testimony, evidence, and argument on both the legal merits as well as the operational costs. In April 2004, the full panel of district judges, citing I.C. § 1-2218 and their inherent power, ordered the Cities to pay a pro rata share for the cost of operating the magistrate’s division. The Cities timely appealed.
II.
STANDARD OF REVIEW
The interpretation of a statute is a question of law over which this Court exercises free review. State v. Hart, 135 Idaho 827, 829, 25 P.3d 850, 852 (2001). Interpretation of a statute begins with an examination of the statute’s literal words. State v. Burnight, 132 Idaho 654, 659, 978 P.2d 214, 219 (1999). Where the language of a statute is plain and unambiguous, courts give effect to the statute as written, without engaging in statutory construction. State v. Rhode, 133 Idaho 459, 462, 988 P.2d 685, 688 (1999). In other words, where statute is clear, legislative history and other extrinsic evidence should not be consulted for the purpose of altering the clearly expressed intent of the Legislature. Hart, 135 at 829, 25 P.3d at 852.
III.
DISCUSSION
Idaho Code sections 1-2217 and 1-2218 address courthouse facilities as follows:
§ 1-2217. Facilities and equipment provided by county. Each county in the state shall provide suitable and adequate facilities for the magistrate’s division of the district court, including the facilities and equipment necessary to make the space provided functional for its intended use, and shall provide for the staff personnel, supplies, and other expenses of the magistrate’s division.
§ 1-2218. Facilities and equipment provided by city. Any city in the state shall, upon order of a majority of the district judges in the judicial district, provide suitable and adequate quarters for a magistrate’s division of the district court, including the facilities and equipment necessary to make the space provided functional for its intended use, and shall provide for the staff personnel, supplies, and other ex*400penses of the magistrate’s division. (Emphasis added).
Citing I.C § 1-2218, in their April 2004 decision, the district judges did not order the Cities to “provide suitable and adequate quarters for a magistrate’s division,” but instead ordered the Cities to reimburse the County for the Cities’ use of the courthouse provided by the County: the Theron Ward Judicial Building. The County argues the district judges were authorized to order reimbursement because I.C. § 1-2217 and I.C. § 1-2218 should be read together. Under the County’s view, I.C. § 1-2217 requires that the County provide and pay for a magistrate court facility, which it has done and will continue to do. However, under I.C. § 1-2218, upon order of a majority of the district judges, the Cities must either provide their own building or provide for use of the County facilities by compensating the County for their proportionate share. We are not persuaded.
These statutes clearly contemplate two distinct scenarios: section 2217 addresses a county’s obligation to provide facilities and personnel, supplies, etc., whereas section 2218 speaks to a city’s obligation to provide facilities and personnel, supplies, etc., upon order of the district judges. Idaho Code § 1-2218 does not require a city to provide facilities or other expenses. In other words, I.C. §§ 1-2217 and 2218 do not envision entwined or shared facilities and expenses. The entity which provides the building also provides the expenses associated with operating it. Thus, the district judges only had the authority to order the Cities to provide courthouse facilities. While it may seem inefficient to order each of the Cities to provide their own building, instead of ordering each City to contribute cash to the County to pay its proportionate share, that does not justify ignoring the plain wording of the statute. An amendment to the statutes to provide greater efficiency is left to the legislature, not the courts. Idaho Code section 1-2218 simply does not include district judges ordering the Cities to put up the money for the operations of a courthouse provided by the County. Until the statute is amended to direct otherwise, the current statute means what it says: District judges have the option to order the Cities to “provide suitable and adequate quarters for a magistrate’s division;” once the district judges decide not to order the Cities to provide facilities, their authority over the matter is at an end.
Also, requiring reimbursement in lieu of facilities ignores any right of a city to make decisions regarding the facilities it must provide if ordered by the district judges. While I.C. § 1-2218 empowers district judges to order “suitable and adequate quarters,” beyond that minimum standard, the legislature has given cities the discretion to decide how they want to go about providing such quarters. A city may wish to utilize existing facilities or build a new structure, or it may prefer a certain location for the facility. Granting district judges the authority to order a city to make a contribution to the county’s courthouse effectively eliminates a city’s options. Again, under the clear language of the statute, district judges are not given the authority to decide on the city’s behalf how the city should comply with the statute.
Furthermore, any sharing of costs is accounted for in I.C. § 31-3201A, which, like I.C. §§ 1-2217 and 2218, makes a distinction between magistrate court facilities provided by a city and those provided by a county.1 *401Under I.C. § 31-3201A, where a county provides the facilities, $5.00 of a court fee is paid to the county. If, however, a city provides the facilities, $5.00 of a court fee is paid to the city’s general fund and $2.50 is deposited into that city’s “capital facilities fund.” Ordering reimbursement eliminates the distinction necessary for I.C. § 31-3201A to work. If a city is ordered to reimburse a county for its proportionate use, how is one to know which entity, under I.C. § 31-3201A, has “provided” the facility? By ordering the Cities to reimburse the County, the district judges impermissibly blurred the line between a facility provided by a county and one provided by a city.
In their decision, the district judges also relied on the inherent authority of the courts to provide for adequate and necessary facilities within which to transact court business. This Court recognized its inherent authority “to incur and order paid all such expenses as are necessary for the holding of court and the administration of the duties of courts of justice” in Schmelzel v. Board of Com’rs of Ada County, 16 Idaho 32, 35, 100 P. 106, 107 (1909) (emphasis added). The Schmelzel Court rejected jurors’ claims to reimbursement for haircut and shaving expenses incurred while sequestered because those expenses were not “necessary” to the administration of justice and were not the result of jury service. In this ease, there has been no showing a payment of cash by the Cities is necessary for the administration of justice. In fact, a facility is currently in use by the Cities — the Theron Ward Judicial Building; there has been no finding that the court system must somehow be “repaired” by a cash payment.
In interpreting I.C. § 1-2218, the district judges also relied on the 1971 reforms to the judicial system in Idaho which made “the courts ... a unified and integrated system.” Because these reforms were intended to replace the “patchwork quilt of local courts” with one efficient, unified court system, the district judges reasoned it would frustrate those reforms if there were multiple courthouses sprinkled throughout the state. It is true that as a part of these reforms, the magistrate’s division of the district court was created, replacing the prior system of justices of the peace, probate courts and municipal judges. There is no question that Idaho judges are now a part of a single, unified court system, consisting of magistrate judges, district judges, Court of Appeals judges and Supreme Court justices. That has nothing to do, however, with providing the facilities in which those judges are chambered. As a part of court reform, I.C. § 1-2217 and 2218 were adopted and clearly provide that the counties and cities will thereafter have the responsibility to provide facilities to house the courts. The fact that judges may have to travel to different facilities to handle state, county and city matters is simply a product of the legislature’s decision to have counties and cities provide facilities and operations; it has no impact on the fact that all judges are now part of a single, unified system.
Based on our decision, we need not address the other arguments raised by the County.
IV.
CONCLUSION
Because the district judges were without authority to order the Cities to reimburse the County for their use of the magistrate’s division, the decision of the district judges is reversed. The Cities are awarded costs on appeal.
Justice KIDWELL, Pro Tern, and Judge SCHILLING, Pro Tern concur.

. Idaho Code section 31-3201A addresses court fees as follows:
The clerk of the district court ... shall charge, demand and receive the following fees ... (b) A fee of seventeen dollars and fifty cents ($17.50) shall be paid [by a person found guilty of certain offenses]. If the magistrate court facilities are provided by the county, five dollars ($5.00) of such fee shall be paid to the county treasurer for deposit in the district court fund of the county; and twelve dollars and fifty cents ($12.50) of such fee shall be paid to the county treasurer who shall pay such fees to the state treasurer for deposit in accordance with subsection (p) of this section. If the magistrate court facilities are provided by a city, five dollars ($5.00) of such fee shall be paid to the city treasurer for deposit in the city general fund, two dollars and fifty cents ($2.50) of such fee shall be paid to the city treasurer for deposit in the city capital facilities fund for the construction, remodeling and support of magistrates court facilities ...
(c) A fee of sixteen dollars and fifty cents ($16.50) shall be paid [by a person found to have committed certain offenses]. If the mag*401istrate court facilities are provided by the county, five dollars ($5.00) of such fee shall be paid to the county treasurer for deposit in the district court fund of the county; and eleven dollars and fifty cents ($11.50) of such fee shall be paid to the county treasurer, who shall pay such fees to the state treasurer for deposit in accordance with subsection (p) of this section. If the magistrate court facilities are provided by a city, five dollars ($5.00) of such fee shall be paid to the city treasurer for deposit in the city general fund, two dollars and fifty cents ($2.50) of such fee shall be paid to the city treasurer for deposit in the city capital facilities fund for the construction, remodeling and support of magistrate court facilities ...
I.C. 31-3201A (b), (c) (emphasis added).