Junked cars and unofficial dump sites could become a thing of the past in Douglas County, but it all depends on budgeting.

Gov. Kathleen Sebelius signed a law Monday that will allow Douglas, Franklin and Jefferson counties to set up special court dockets for county code enforcement.

“I imagine what we’ll do is talk about this in terms of the budget context,” Douglas County Commission Chairman Charles Jones said. “I’m not going to say we have firm plans for it at this time. We just wanted to have the option to create a code court as more people move into the county.”

Thanks to the law, the commission now has authority to establish a law enforcement fund to pay for costs associated with a codes court and also to employ or appoint prosecuting attorneys. It is not yet known what the cost of having a codes court would be. Commissioners said they would try to get a better handle during the budget process on how much would be needed to fund the specialized court.

Enforcement of building, zoning and environmental codes that apply to unincorporated parts of the county currently go through the district court system, County Administrator Craig Weinaug said. Code violation and enforcement issues that happen in the city of Lawrence go to the city’s municipal court.

It can take several months for a codes case to make its way through district court, and the violation usually continues during that time, said Keith Dabney, director of Douglas County’s zoning and codes department.

Code violations are found and noted daily, he said.

“We probably have about seven or eight cases right now ready to be turned over to the district attorney,” Dabney said. “But the number varies. And some of them we hesitate sending because of the time it takes. Others we do send over and have to withdraw later, because the matter has been settled.”

One benefit of having a codes court is that it can immediately deal with violations and enforcement issues, Dabney said.

Another is that it would help with enforcing the requirement that trade workers be licensed, he said.

“That’s an area where we have a lot of problems,” Dabney said. “State law requires plumbers and carpenters to be licensed. With a codes court, we can essentially write a ticket for people working without a license and then they would have to justify why they were working without a license to a judge.”

Another advantage to a codes court is that the cases are about enforcement issues and are not criminal or civil in nature, Dabney said.

County Commissioner Bob Johnson noted the better and more timely enforcement a codes court could provide.

“I think because the district attorney’s office has so much to do that these cases probably take a back seat,” Johnson said. “But we’ll have to weigh the benefits against the demands we have for money.”

Other county department heads have made the commission aware that they will be requesting increases in staffing for the 2006 budget year. That means the commission might wait until 2007 or later to consider a codes court.