How many District Court buildings does a jurisdiction need?
Consider Maryland's four most populous subdivisions. Montgomery County manages with two District Courts. So does Prince George's County. Baltimore City has three. But Baltimore County, with 50 percent fewer criminal and civil cases than the city, has five District Courts.
Pure politics accounts for this overabundance. It's also the motivation behind a proposal by Dundalk and Owings Mills state delegates to cancel the scheduled June 1997 closing date for the District Courts in their back yards.
Baltimore County lawmakers have an embarrassing history of coveting District Court buildings. Around 1970, the county's seven state senators demanded and won a court for each of their districts. The ridiculous expense and underutilization of the facilities prompted a reduction to five District Courts about 15 years ago. In 1992, approval was given to state budget language that eliminated the Owings Mills and Dundalk District Courts by late 1994, leaving courts open in Essex, Towson and Catonsville. But in 1993, a compromise was struck that would leave the Owings Mills and Dundalk sites operating through June 30, 1997.
But now, violating the spirit of that compromise, the Dundalk and Owings Mills delegates have introduced a bill that would rescue their local District Courts from their planned closings.
Proponents of the doomed facilities say these are distinctive communities that merit their own courts. Yet Maryland has much larger communities and towns without one of the state's 35 District Court buildings. Advocates also claim that if the Dundalk and Owings Mills facilities are closed, citizens would be hard-pressed to travel to other court sites. Any of the three remaining District Courts, however, is easily reached by major roads.
Another argument says these courts are important to the economic health of their communities. In truth, the facilities probably do more for the economic health of lawyers, including lawyer-politicians, who have offices near the District Courts.
The best argument against the Dundalk and Owings Mills courts is that the three modern facilities at Essex, Towson and Catonsville are underused. It would be unconscionable to continue wasting state tax dollars on the unnecessary facilities in Dundalk and Owings Mills. The bill to save these two District Courts is bad legislation. Like the courts themselves, it should be shut down.