COEUR d’ALENE — The Kootenai County Sheriff’s Office has run out of money to extradite inmates.

KCSO’s $31,000 budget for extradition expenses was completely spent as of Tuesday, just three months into the fiscal year.

Now county officials are pondering the possibility of a moratorium on extraditions for misdemeanor offenses.

In a special meeting Tuesday, Kootenai County Sheriff Bob Norris told county commissioners that he supports such a moratorium.

Extradition is the formal process of one jurisdiction delivering a person accused or convicted of committing a crime in another jurisdiction over to the other’s law enforcement.

If someone wanted on an extraditable warrant out of Kootenai County is picked up in another county or state, KCSO must arrange for them to be returned to Kootenai County.

Deputies are tasked with extraditing inmates wanted for both misdemeanor and felony offenses — and the costs of doing so add up fast.

Within the last month, KCSO has reportedly spent between $10,000 and $12,000 extraditing five different inmates.

These costs include airfare, food, lodging and other incidentals for the inmate and two accompanying deputies.

It’s cheaper to extradite individuals who are arrested in Idaho or in a surrounding state and can be transported by vehicle.

Airfare is far and away the biggest expense, Norris said.

But sometimes unexpected costs arise.

Norris pointed to a recent case involving a Kootenai County woman who was reportedly wanted for misdemeanor possession of a controlled substance.

After her arrest in South Dakota, the local judge who issued the original warrant requested that she be returned to Kootenai County.

The woman reportedly had a medical event while in custody in South Dakota. In addition to the costs of extradition, KCSO was also on the hook for her medical bills, as the law enforcement agency that planned to pick her up.

Norris said the almost $20,000 incurred in this case simply wasn’t worth it for a misdemeanor offense — and the same is true for many similar cases.

“Once an individual is in another area, risk to the safety of our community is pretty minimal,” he said. “We have to weigh the costs versus the rewards.”

Norris said KCSO will ask Kootenai County judges to consider issuing extraditable warrants exclusively for felony offenses.

It’s a solution that Kootenai County Commissioner Leslie Duncan said she supports.

She said Tuesday that a six-month moratorium on misdemeanor extraditions would also help alleviate some of the strain on KCSO, which remains understaffed. Each extradition requires two deputies to accompany the inmate.

“If (Norris) doesn’t have the bodies to pick them up, then we’re going to be in additional trouble,” Duncan said.

Meanwhile, with the extradition budget totally depleted, each associated expense must be approved manually.

KCSO is expected to formally request this week that county commissioners add $31,000 to the budget to cover extraditions for the rest of the year.

KCSO Cap. Andy Deak said the number is based on historical data — though whether it would last the year depends on how many people are arrested on extraditable warrants.

“It’s a moving target,” he said.