Wednesday, August 20, 2008

Commissioners: Let the voters decide

County agrees to place open space and emergency dispatch funding on November ballot


By JASON KAUFFMAN
Express Staff Writer

This November, it will be Blaine County voters who decide if the need to preserve open space and fund emergency dispatcher salaries is reason enough to raise their own property tax rates.

On Tuesday, the three-member Blaine County Commission agreed unanimously to place two proposed property-tax levy-rate increases on the coming November ballot. Of course, the biggest question still remains: Will county voters agree to increase the amount they already pay in property taxes in such dire economic times?

The first of the levy override proposals, meant to help preserve valuable open space in select locations throughout the county, was first proposed by a consortium of local conservation groups. Those groups—the Idaho Conservation League, Wood River Land Trust, The Nature Conservancy and Citizens for Smart Growth—are hoping county property owners will agree to temporarily raise their property tax rates for two years to pay for conservation efforts in the county.

The coalition of the groups banded together to support the temporary two-year levy that would, they say, raise about $3.5 million. If approved, the property tax override would mean an average two-year increase in the amount of property taxes paid by county homeowners of $50, based on the county's median home value of $436,000.

The proposed Blaine County open space levy is modeled after a similar two-year levy Boise voters approved in 2001. The levy raised $10 million for conservation efforts in the nearby Boise Foothills.

The levy increase for open space preservation would only need a simple majority of voter approval to pass.

The groups don't have specific plots in mind for protection, but Vanessa Crossgrove-Fry from Citizens for Smart Growth has said they're looking at the Big Wood River corridor, the Silver Creek area and the Little Wood River watershed north of Carey based on the results of recent surveys. Those same surveys have shown an overwhelming majority of respondents would support increasing their property taxes, an idea that wasn't lost on the commissioners, some of whom had shown initial reluctance to further burden taxpayers.

One idea that's been floated would be to use funds generated by the two-year levy override to help purchase development rights as part of the county's transfer of development rights program. The program allows landowners in specified areas of the county to sell their rights to develop their land to landowners in other areas that the county has identified as being appropriate for denser subdivision development.

The possibility to use the funds in this way seemed to sway Blaine County Commissioner Larry Schoen.

"I really have shifted my position on this and do support putting this on the ballot," Schoen said. "This money would in effect be seed money (for the TDR program)."

The commissioners did say they want to pass a resolution identifying for the public what specific uses the open space funding would be used for should the override pass.

"I also think they should know what they're voting for," said Blaine County Commissioner Angenie McCleary.

The commissioners' follow-up decision to ask county voters to increase their property-tax levy rates to fund emergency dispatcher salaries in the county's new consolidated dispatch center is sure to please Hailey leaders, who first proposed the idea. Facing significant funding shortfalls, the Hailey City Council recently approved the city's tentative budget for fiscal year 2009 without including money for the new consolidated dispatch system.

On Monday, the City Council shifted course slightly by agreeing to provide $60,000 for dispatcher salaries in the city's 2009 budget, though they stipulated that they would only provide those funds if the county agreed to put the levy override proposal before voters this November.

Unlike the open space proposal, the dispatch override proposal would be a permanent increase to property tax rates. Because of this, passage will require a two-thirds majority of voters.

So far, figures on the total amount the two overrides would affect tax rates should they both pass have not been released by county officials. Another unanswered question is what would happen if county voters were to reject the override meant to fund dispatcher salaries.

"If it doesn't pass we still have work to do," said Blaine County Administrator Mike McNees.




 Local Weather 
Search archives:


Copyright © 2024 Express Publishing Inc.   Terms of Use   Privacy Policy
All Rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part in any form or medium without express written permission of Express Publishing Inc. is prohibited. 

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.