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For the week of  September 12 - 18, 2001

  News

Bill for local transit tax proposed


By TRAVIS PURSER
Express Staff Writer

When the Idaho Legislature convenes in January, it will consider a bill to allow voters in Idaho counties to implement a sales tax for improving public transportation.

The tax is needed to pay for a proposed commuter bus service between Ketchum and Bellevue, officials in Blaine County say.

State House Minority Leader Wendy Jaquet, D-Ketchum, and her husband, Ketchum city administrator Jim Jaquet, have been working together to draft the proposal and to promote it.

Jim Jaquet, who is also a member of the Association of Idaho Cities legislative committee, said that he presented the idea to the association Friday in Boise and that the association has agreed to help.

Recent news reports that his wife had made the presentation were incorrect, he said.

If approved, the bill would allow voters in Idaho counties to pass a .2 percent sales tax, Jaquet said. In Blaine County, that would raise $730,000 annually, the amount needed for an all-day, Bellevue-to-Ketchum commuter bus and a local circulator bus in Hailey and Bellevue.

The tax would require a 60 percent voter approval, would have to be re-approved every five years and would not apply to groceries.

Jaquet said a sales tax is a "good way to generate revenue" for transit because it would place the heaviest burden on tourists, which he said cause the need for public transportation in Blaine County.

Counties with less than 30,000 residents and at least one resort city would be eligible for the tax. Jaquet said legislators may be reluctant to allow larger county populations to decide whether to tax themselves.

During the presentation Friday, representatives from the large, non-resort Ada and Canyon counties said their areas would also benefit from a public transportation sales tax, Jaquet said.

That could complicate the already difficult issue, which may require consideration during more than one legislative session, he said.


The Idaho Mountain Express is distributed free to residents and guests throughout the Sun Valley, Idaho resort area community. Subscribers to the Idaho Mountain Express will read these stories and others in this week's issue.