BOISE, Idaho — Idaho Gov. Brad Little last month pledged $1 million in state funding to assist the investigation into the homicides of four University of Idaho students in Moscow. A local official said the funding is sorely needed but has yet to materialize for the city.
Taxpayer-funded expenses continue to climb, with no sign from investigators that they’re close to finding a suspect in the attack that killed Madison Mogen, Kaylee Goncalves, Xana Kernodle and Ethan Chapin.
Violence on such a scale is uncommon in Moscow, a roughly 26,000-population college town in North Idaho, so local officials welcomed help from the governor’s office to fund the sprawling investigation that includes the Moscow Police Department, Idaho State Police and FBI.
“The budgetary impact is definitely present,” Moscow Mayor Art Bettge told the Idaho Statesman in a recent interview.
The city of Moscow is shifting resources away from other departments and toward law enforcement, and Bettge said he’s worried about the long-term financial effects of the investigation.
“We’ve had to reorient a lot of city departments to support the Police Department,” Bettge told the Statesman.
Bettge said he penned a letter to Little requesting about $200,000 for police overtime, lab testing and other expenses accrued by the city in the wake of the homicides, including funding needed to hire communication specialists. The investigation has cost the city about $250,000 so far, he said, a challenge when the city collects less than $7 million annually in property tax revenue.
“We do not have much budgetary ‘freeboard’ and run a very lean operation here,” Bettge said by email following an initial interview.
So far, the city has “heard nothing from the governor’s office about any monetary follow-through,” Bettge said Wednesday.
Bettge expects a large chunk of the governor’s fund to go to Idaho State Police, which has put in a heap of support, including collecting evidence from the crime scene and providing additional security at the university.
Idaho State Police is coordinating with local law enforcement and other partners to determine expenses, Madison Hardy, spokesperson for the governor’s office, told the Statesman by email.
Idaho State Police spokesperson Aaron Snell said most of the costs so far have been investigator salaries and travel expenses. Snell did not respond to questions about which salaries were being funded or whether new investigators were hired.
“Specific numbers are not available at this time but should be in the near future,” Snell said by email last week.
The governor’s pledge appears to be an unprecedented use of state funds. The governor’s office has not helped fund an investigation like this before “to our knowledge,” Hardy said by email.
“Governor Little is deeply saddened by the loss of four bright and promising young lives, and he is committed to providing all resources possible to ensure the person responsible for this horrendous crime is brought to justice,” she said.
The money comes from the governor’s emergency fund, which may be used by the governor for any emergency “not foreseen or reasonably foreseeable,” according to state law. Little, a Republican, back in July directed $1 million from the fund to combat fentanyl distribution.
Bettge, who served two terms on the Moscow City Council before taking over as mayor, anticipates the costs for local taxpayers will climb as the homicide investigation drags on — and not just for the city.
Funding a criminal trial, if investigators find a suspect, will fall on Latah County, Bettge told the Statesman.
“You have to think about the future,” he said. “I’m hoping the governor will follow through with his promise to help out, because for a small city with limited budgetary means, this has a major impact on city government.”
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