[norton]

""The judge said the county's claimed higher expenses for social services were simply the costs of being a government entity. "

OK,
Using the same logic, every state in the union should be authorized to send the bill to the US Government, "attention G. W. Bush" and expect to collect their refund because it is USG policy that caused them to see the expense....the responsibility of being a 'government entity' should surely depend on which 'government entity' ran up the debt.

[seastay]

agreed