A potentially massive increase in the cost of justice in Utah County has been worked out.

In September, county commissioners complained about the cost of hiring additional prosecutors and public defenders. About a year ago judges in the local 4th District Court changed the way they handled cases, resulting in a more efficient case flow, but also in a need for more attorneys. Those calendar changes could have cost the county hundreds of thousands of dollars a year.

The judges contend that the way cases were handled meant several judges would sometimes handle the same case and the concentration of criminal cases was reaching unmanageable levels. Overall, they said, the quality of justice was being hurt.

The biggest concern was with Provo city, which has handled the district court's more than 500 class A misdemeanor cases for years. The judges scheduling change would have made it impossible for the city to continue handling the cases. For the county to handle them itself would have cost an additional $500,000.

But the judges figured out a way to consolidate the misdemeanors into one day so that Provo can continue to handle the cases.

"I think we would say that the court was willing to listen, and sensitive to the needs of Provo and the county and did a good job balancing their need to efficiently handle cases with our need to efficiently prosecute and defend them," said County Attorney Jeff Buhman.

It took months of talks before an agreement was reached recently.

"That's a big deal to us," said County Commissioner Gary Anderson. "They didn't need to do it, they didn't have to do it."

All sides agreed that judge and attorney caseload was getting pretty heavy. That, Anderson said, made the judges' decision even more impressive.

"They are taxpayers themselves, and they want to keep costs low," he said. "The stepped up and suffered some inconveniences themselves."