Washita County’s Excise Board and County Commissioners will have to continue legal defense against County Assessor Rusty Bookout’s claims that budget cuts left his office without enough money to operate during the 2025-2026 fiscal year, which ends on June 30, 2026.
Oklahoma City law firm Fellers Snider sent a certified letter to the County in August 2025 demanding that the County allocate additional funds to the Assessor’s office after the budget for the year was finalized.
A special meeting was held on September 3rd and the Commissioners and Excise Board members voted unanimously to hire legal counsel.
Bookout’s lawyer filed a ‘Writ of Mandamus’ petition on November 17, 2025 with the District Court. An Oklahoma ‘Writ of Mandamus’ is a legal remedy used to force a public official or governmental group to perform a mandatory duty they have refused. In this case, that duty would be to grant a requested budgetary allocation to support an office which is carrying out a legally required duty. However, in the Assessor’s original budget request, there were numerous items included that were moved to other departments during the county-wide budgeting process. These items accounted for a large part of the budget reduction.
District Court Judge Donna Dirickson ruled on February 19, 2026 that the case would go to pretrial July 30, 2026. Judge Dirickson also ordered that both parties participate in private mediation and report whether an agreement has been reached before the pretrial date.
Legal fees incurred in the defense of the Writ of Mandamus have strained Washita County’s already thin budget. As of March 16, 2026, more than $24,000 has been paid to attorney’s hired by the Commissioners and Excise Board Members. This number is expected to increase dramatically now that the matter is set for trial.
Some of the ill-effects of the unexpected attorney fees have already been seen. County employee safety bonuses were not paid due to shortfalls.
Plans for the OSU Extension Center’s new building have been tabled. That fund has $200,000 remaining; however, the county jail is dependent upon jail fees received from other counties housing inmates in the jail to meet jail payroll.
Since other funds have now been depleted, the dollars which Washita County’s Commissioners had hoped to use to complete the Extension Center’s building will have to be reserved for emergency funds for jail payroll in the event jail fees fall short, or legal fees exceed the remaining balance in budgetary allocations for unexpected or emergency use.