EL PASO COUNTY GETS REIMBURSED FOR DRUG CASES

A check was presented to El Paso County on Wednesday as partial
reimbursement for prosecuting federal drug cases, five months after
the district attorney stopped taking cases for lack of funds.

"Now that we've received the money, on behalf of El Paso County, we're
certainly pleased that we are now going to be compensated for the work
that we do," said El Paso County District Attorney Jaime Esparza.

The county received $144,936.46 as a reimbursement for prosecuting
federal drug cases under the Southwest Border Local Assistance
Initiative. The check covers costs incurred by the county from July 13
to Sept. 13, 2000.

The money is part of a $12 million emergency appropriation that is to
be shared equally by Texas, New Mexico, Arizona and California. The
money was appropriated last July after prosecutors said they would
stop taking federal cases unless they were reimbursed for their costs.
El Paso County is expected to receive $1.5 million of the $3 million
allocated to Texas.

Esparza, along with other border district attorneys, did stop taking
federal cases when the 2001 fiscal year began Oct. 1, until a plan to
reimburse the counties was worked out this year.

In December, Congress approved an additional $10 million for Texas to
be used this fiscal year only. The money available for the counties
and municipal governments in the Western District of Texas, of which
El Paso County is a part, totals $6.5 million. Of that, El Paso County
will receive about $5 million.

"Mr. Esparza had the most cases by far, probably 800 cases in one
year," said Bill Blagg, U.S. attorney for the Western District of
Texas. "During the last four years that Mr. Esparza has not been
compensated for the work he's done, they've handled between 3,000 and
4,000 cases at no expense to the federal government."

To receive money for the county's work, El Paso County will submit a
report each quarter showing actual expenditures. The county can be
reimbursed for court and detention costs, courtroom technology,
building holding spaces, administrative staff and indigent defense
costs.

El Paso taxpayers pay about $8 million a year to prosecute federal
drug cases handled by El Paso prosecutors. Most of the cases involve
fewer than 200 pounds of marijuana seized at the international ports
of entry and checkpoints.

The $10 million is the amount the border district attorneys "were
asking for and looking for," Esparza said. "It's really going to make
a difference to us."