Logan County Budgets $1-Million for Murder Trial
By: Sophie Nielsen-Kolding WMBD/WYZZ TV
Updated: October 31, 2012
LOGAN COUNTY- Logan County applied for a $1-million bond in order to cover the costs of a capital murder trial.
The Gee and Constant families were brutally killed in 2009 in Beason. Christopher and Jason Harris were charged in the deaths and now Logan County is paying for it.
"It is running us about $16,666 a month," said county clerk, Sally Litterly.
And the trial hasn't even started yet. The county needs the bond to cover the cost of a capital murder trial which could mean paying officers overtime, paying for subpoenas and special witnesses.
County board vice chairman David Hepler said taxpayers won't feel it in their pockets.
"This will not involve a tax increase nor can it involve a tax increase," Hepler said.
The bond would need to be paid back over a maximum of 20 years.
"The bond salesman had to verify and will have to verify before we can make it official that we can pay this off with sources that are already there rather than going to the people for a big tax increase," Hepler said.
But Litterly said she doesn't think that's fair.
"That money that we would be using to pay back the bond could be used for something else so we could have other things that would have enhanced our county in other ways, but instead we're using to pay for bond indebtedness," she said.
Litterly said there used to be state money called The Capital Litigation Trust Fund, but that was taken away.
"I think there needed to be something else in place in order to give us an alternative to, how are we going to take care of something like this?," she said.
The county's plan B was to take away money budgeted for other things, like ambulance service. Taking out a bond allows the county to cover costs without raising taxes or cutting services.
Litterly said there was some pushback from taxpayers wanting to put it to public vote, but no one filed a petition by the county's deadline.
The Gee and Constant families were brutally killed in 2009 in Beason. Christopher and Jason Harris were charged in the deaths and now Logan County is paying for it.
"It is running us about $16,666 a month," said county clerk, Sally Litterly.
And the trial hasn't even started yet. The county needs the bond to cover the cost of a capital murder trial which could mean paying officers overtime, paying for subpoenas and special witnesses.
County board vice chairman David Hepler said taxpayers won't feel it in their pockets.
"This will not involve a tax increase nor can it involve a tax increase," Hepler said.
The bond would need to be paid back over a maximum of 20 years.
"The bond salesman had to verify and will have to verify before we can make it official that we can pay this off with sources that are already there rather than going to the people for a big tax increase," Hepler said.
But Litterly said she doesn't think that's fair.
"That money that we would be using to pay back the bond could be used for something else so we could have other things that would have enhanced our county in other ways, but instead we're using to pay for bond indebtedness," she said.
Litterly said there used to be state money called The Capital Litigation Trust Fund, but that was taken away.
"I think there needed to be something else in place in order to give us an alternative to, how are we going to take care of something like this?," she said.
The county's plan B was to take away money budgeted for other things, like ambulance service. Taking out a bond allows the county to cover costs without raising taxes or cutting services.
Litterly said there was some pushback from taxpayers wanting to put it to public vote, but no one filed a petition by the county's deadline.
