Council Votes For Micron
The City Council on Tuesday voted unanimously to lure a Micron Technology Inc. plant with tax assistance, despite calls for a citywide vote on the matter.
Kootenai County - including two sites in Post Falls - is among 13 finalists for Micron’s new manufacturing facility. The $1.3 billion plant would be the crown jewel of the region’s industry; it promises more than 3,000 jobs and some $29 million in annual tax revenue.
In order to win those benefits, Post Falls will offer Micron a taxassistance package that allows infrastructure costs to be paid over time. Bonds would be sold to build a sewer plant upgrade, streets and utility hook-ups, for example, then repaid with Micron’s own tax dollars, no one else’s.
Such a funding method is referred to as tax-increment financing.
“Opportunities like Micron are rare,” said Mayor Jim Hammond. “The only way to make our proposal competitive is to use taxincrement financing.”
Other Idaho communities courting Micron, including Boise and Twin Falls, have pledged similar assistance.
An overwhelming majority of those attending Tuesday’s council meeting supported the use of tax assistance to attract Micron. Most were from the business community, including Bob Potter, president of business recruiter Jobs Plus; the pro-business lobby Con cerned Businesses; and Paul Anderson of WWP.
Also favoring the use of taxincrement financing was Richard Harris, Post Falls’ schools superintendent. Harris said Micron’s location in Post Falls would increase school tax revenues, while diluting tax burdens on individual homeowners.
While Coeur d’Alene’s property tax revenues are split almost equally between businesses and homeowners, only 34 percent of Post Falls’ revenues come from business.
Tax activist Ron Rankin - who has threatened to fight any use of tax-increment financing unless approved by voters - said Tuesday’s decision showed disregard for the public.
Just one other person joined Rankin in dissent. Rankin does not live in Post Falls, but heads the Kootenai County Property Owners Association, a group that last fall gathered more than 1,000 signatures petitioning the city for a vote on tax-increment financing measures.
That initiative now is the focus of a court battle.