It appears inevitable that Miller County and Texarkana, Ark., will end up in court to resolve the dispute of funding for the Lantz Lurry Juvenile Detention Center. This is poor stewardship of tax money, and the biggest offender is the city.

It is true the county is responsible for housing juvenile offenders who live in the county. And, yes, Texarkana, Ark., is in Miller County. Indeed, its population makes up about 65 percent of the county’s population. Furthermore, city residents already pay county taxes for such items as juvenile and adult lockups.

That is the hook on which city officials hang their refusal to pay any city money toward housing delinquents. As the city makes up most of the county’s population, so does its percentage of juvenile detainees exceed the number for the rest of Miller County.

City officials should have considered that argument in the mid-1990s when they agreed to chip in on JDC operational costs. Now that the city’s budget is in the toilet tank, it drags out the double-payment debate.

We don’t think that’s wise when they signed an agreement. They made a written commitment but apparently they will avoid it until a court rules against the city. The county is ready to sue. A contract is a contract.

So both sides will spend money on legal fees that could have gone to the JDC—if the grown men and women on both sides of the debate would reason together to reach a compromise instead of acting like sullen, defiant delinquents.

Part of the reason the city has fiscal problems is lawsuits and lawyers’ fees. Defending the border city exemption in court had to be done, but the drawn-out wrangle over ward redistricting was costly and unnecessary. On the latter, city officials took the low political road instead of doing what was legally and morally just.

Of course, the county, back in the old days when it was broke, tried the same nonsense. It wouldn’t pay its share of the Bi-State Justice Building Jail, and the city often carried it. Maybe that is behind city officials’ attitude.

Two wrongs don’t make a right, that’s what adults frequently tell squabbling, vengeful children.

If this issue ends up in court—regardless of the outcome—voters should ground the officials who squandered their allowance.