Item: Putting Ketchum's URA into context: Is there a good explanation for $5.56M in debt?/Trevon Milliard, Idaho Mountain Express

More Info: This election, opponents have hounded incumbents over the Ketchum Urban Renewal Agency and its $5.56 million debt, but City Administrator Gary Marks described the debt as "typical" and "nothing to worry about." He said people just don't understand how URAs and their funding mechanism, tax incremental financing, work. And Marks doesn't blame them. "You literally have attorneys whose entire careers focus on tax incremental financing," Marks said. URAs are created to rehabilitate deteriorating areas in a city and promote healthy development. Since 1985, state law has allowed use of property taxes to finance URAs.

Question: How is the urban renewal issue playing in Coeur d'Alene this fall election?