Benton, Franklin counties to sue each other over juvenile offenders

Benton County leaders gave their attorneys the green light on Friday to sue neighboring Franklin County for breach of contract.

Less than an hour later, Franklin County commissioners at their own special meeting voted without any discussion on a plan to counter sue.

Benton County’s lawsuit, expected to be filed in Yakima County Superior Court next week, will ask a judge for an injunction to stop Franklin from pulling out of its multi-million dollar bi-county juvenile services agreement until a legal split can be negotiated.

Franklin County previously said it will send its juvenile offenders to Martin Hall in Medical Lake by Jan. 1. The facility, two hours away from the Tri-Cities, is used by a consortium of 10 other northeastern Washington counties.

Benton County commissioners voted unanimously at a specially-called Friday meeting to send a letter to Franklin County asking for more information and to authorize its prosecutor’s office to proceed with a lawsuit.

“We’ve been really good stewards between the two counties, but there comes a point … in business if you have a contract in the state of Washington and you provide the services, you expect to get paid,” said Benton County Commissioner Michael Alvarez.

They noted that the litigation could be withdrawn if Franklin County chooses to negotiate.

Franklin County responded at its own special meeting Friday by instructing its prosecutor’s office to file a counter-lawsuit if Benton County sues them.

What led to this?

Benton County leaders said earlier this week Franklin County’s move could cost them as much as $1.5 million, and puts dozens of the 70 juvenile services workers at risk of losing their jobs.

The current agreement was reached after Benton County started on a more than $20 million renovation of the juvenile center on Canal Drive in Kennewick. Franklin pays a monthly fee for services and an additional $12,500 monthly fee to help supplement the costs of the renovation work.

Franklin County believes pulling out of the agreement will save a substantial amount of money, but their contract with Benton was signed in 2023 and runs through 2033. It requires a 12-month notice of withdrawal.

Franklin budgeted spending $2.4 million less on juvenile services in 2026. While state law says the Benton Franklin Superior Court should have the final say, Franklin leaders are pushing ahead despite the judges’ objections.

It’s unclear how the split would play out, but all juvenile cases are currently heard in one courtroom at the juvenile center. Offenders cannot be moved to another facility without a court order.

Both Benton County and the Superior Court judges have indicated they are willing to work with Franklin County on a split, but it would need proper planning.

Benton County reviewed its other bi-county agreements after Franklin County abruptly pulled out of a key human services contract earlier this year.

That contract impacts housing assistance, developmental disability resources and veterans services.

After some negotiation, they were able to put a temporary contract into place, keeping the partnership through summer 2026 in order to ensure a more orderly transition.

At the time of the review in early November, Benton County took no action on juvenile services because the contract was relatively new and in place for most of the next decade.

They did send notice this week that a bi-county equipment sharing agreement and a veterans court partnership were not being renewed. Benton County staff said in November the veterans court slots were not being filled now that Franklin County District Court had a robust recovery court program.

Benton County Deputy Administrator Matt Rasmussen said earlier this week that Benton County only found out about the decision to split the juvenile services agreement when Franklin asked Benton Franklin Superior Court judges to approve its shift of juvenile offenders to a new facility.

The Superior Court sent out a statement Friday saying the bench cannot publicly comment on the split due to Washington state’s Code of Judicial Conduct.

The judges have met with Franklin County and sent three letters before Franklin signed contracts with Martin Hall.

What are Franklin’s reasons?

In the most recent letter from the Superior Court bench, Presiding Judge Jacqueline Stam laid out some of the reasons Franklin County gave the court for the split.

Franklin County pointed to the risk of sexual abuse danger to youth in detention because of allegations stemming from the 1970s and 1980s, as well as a $700,000 increase in risk and liability insurance due to those claims.

They also told the court that the move would result in a substantial cost savings to the county, but Stam said in the letter that they still did not have sufficient information to determine how they were saving $2.4 million just sending the offenders to another facility.

Franklin County is also claiming the bi-county judicial court and detention does not have the statutory legal authority to operate and that the agreements reached between the counties “are void because they are overreaching.”

Franklin County Administrator Brian Dansel also told the Herald in a statement this week that the county is considering using some of the considerable cost savings to eventually build its own juvenile services facility.

“We feel, that as a point of clarification, as Pasco rapidly approaches the status of the most populous city in the Tri-Cities, the demand for localized services is no longer a question—it is an imperative,” Dansel said in the statement. “We must be able to scale our services to meet the needs of our growing community.”

Stam said in the letters that Franklin leaders have not provided clear reasoning to justify the sudden break in services.

The second letter, dated Dec. 10, refers to their meeting and Franklin County’s intent to terminate the contract. The letter described the move as “essentially a de-funding of Juvenile Justice entirely.”

The court told Franklin County it must restore millions in funding it has pulled from juvenile services in its 2026 budget by Friday, Dec 19.

What is Martin Hall?

Martin Hall currently serves 10 Washington counties: Adams, Asotin, Douglas, Ferry, Grant, Lincoln, Pend Oreille, Spokane, Stevens and Whitman. Dansel would have worked with Martin Hall during his time as a Ferry County commissioner.

The maximum security facility has a 63-bed capacity, according to the Washington state Auditor’s Office.

Despite serving virtually all of northeast Washington, that’s not much larger than the Benton County Juvenile Center currently is at 42 beds.

Transportation will be handled by the company running Martin Hall, according to Franklin County’s resolutions authorizing the agreement.

Educational services are handled through the Martin Hall Detention Center School, which is overseen by Northeast Washington Educational Services District 101.

It’s unclear how much Franklin County will end up paying for these services, but Martin Hall’s 2025 budget shows they charge a per day cost of $250 per bed.

Spokane County was budgeted to pay $456,250 for 5 beds per day in 2025. Spokane County also operates its own 39-bed juvenile detention center.

Grant County has a similar population as Franklin, and expected to pay about $500,000 annually, at a cost of $200 per bed per day, when it entered the consortium of counties in 2017.

According to Grant County’s agreement, the transportation cost was included in the daily rate for beds.

This story was originally published December 19, 2025 at 4:08 PM.

Cory McCoy

Tri-City Herald

Cory is an award-winning investigative reporter. He joined the Tri-City Herald in Dec. 2021 as an Editor/Reporter covering social accountability issues. His past work can be found in the Tyler Morning Telegraph and other Texas newspapers. He was a 2019-20 Education Writers Association Fellow, and has been featured on The Murder Tapes, Grave Mysteries and Crime Watch Daily with Chris Hansen.