The Iowa Legislature is currently wrestling multi-million dollar budget cuts. In those discussions, county court services could be facing severe cuts in funding. Specifically, the Iowa Senate proposed cuts that would eliminate county court services for the least populated 30 counties. This would include Adair and Guthrie County.

Guthrie County Sheriff Marty Arganbright shared his concerns regarding the possible closures. “We’ve already changed District court from every Monday to every other Monday. Which makes the work double for everyone in a short time. If they cut court services to the courthouses, it will affect our workload, the attorney’s workload, (and) judges workload. It makes it difficult to get everything done. As far as the Sheriff’s Office, if we don’t have court services here it would involve a lot more personnel to transport. That would be very costly to a Sheriff’s Department.”

Arganbright also reiterates the impact possible court closures would have on jail capacity. He fears court service closures would keep the jail at and over capacity.