Federal Laws Don’t Come With Funding Instructions State Legislature Piling On Costly Mandates For Cities Too

Federal law requires this city to test its drinking water for more than 80 contaminants. Some have never been found in North Idaho.

The government will add 25 new contaminants to the list every three years. The number is artificial, water specialists say. Congress just wants more testing done.

“That’s part of the reason the list seems so silly to us,” said city water superintendent Jim Markley. “There’s a universe of bad things that can be in water, but we’re blessed with clean water here.”

To the chagrin of local and state officials, federal “unfunded mandates” like these hit almost every city department in Coeur d’Alene.

Under the Americans with Disabilities Act, for example, the city street department may have to add wheelchair ramps to every curb at every intersection in the city.

Coeur d’Alene officials estimate a quarter to a third of its $28 million annual budget goes to pay for requirements set by other governments. Yet the city collects only $2.7 million a year from other governments. The rest comes from fees and property taxes.

Are the laws necessary? It’s tough to say.

Most Milwaukee residents probably hadn’t heard of cryptosporidium until 52 residents died in 1993 after drinking contaminated water there, said Idaho state water specialist Steve Tanner. That prompted the Environmental Protection Agency to push for increased water testing.

“It’s not that they (laws) are all bad things, it’s just that they don’t tell us how to pay for it,” said City Councilwoman Dixie Reid.

What’s worse, local officials say, is that while state legislators this year blast away at Washington, D.C., for passing rules that create hardship in the West, the state is doing much the same to cities.

Coeur d’Alene Mayor Al Hassell said state bills floated this year do more to take away local control or increase “the cost of us doing business” than any time in the last 10 years.

Here’s a sampling:

Franchise fees: Some lawmakers want to limit to 1 percent the fees cities charge cable television, gas and electric companies for using their rights of way. Coeur d’Alene currently charges 5 percent. The difference is about $800,000 a year.

Annexation areas: County residents in areas that could someday fall within city boundaries could vote in city elections, but would not pay city taxes, under one proposal.

Scenic zoning: Legislators say cities that require developers to have landscape buffers along property lines should have to pay developers for loss of use of that land.

Copying fees: While counties can charge residents 25 cents per page to photocopy documents, some lawmakers don’t think cities should have the same authority.

“Many of these things almost amount to unfunded mandates,” said Hassell. “They (legislators) just don’t look at it the same way if it’s the state doing it.”

In this session, the Idaho Senate passed a bill prohibiting state mandates unless money was attached.

It’s too soon to tell what the financial impact of this session will be on Coeur d’Alene and other cities. But with Gov. Phil Batt this year capping city budgets at a 3 percent annual increase, cities will have few places to turn to keep up.

They essentially will be forced to decrease spending elsewhere, said City Administrator Ken Thompson.

“Basically we have to rearrange our priorities without (being able to give) input into what those priorities should be,” he said.

It seems like punishment to city officials who are proud of their financial record.

Coeur d’Alene hasn’t increased its overall budget in several years, yet its water monitoring costs have risen 30 percent in the last two years. This is despite the fact that this city has bypassed some of the federal sampling tests with permission from the state.

“We have the authority to waive some federal monitoring requirements,” said Tanner, with state Division of Environmental Quality’s water program.

He estimates his office saves North Idaho communities $750,000 a year this way.

There is, of course, a catch. The state only pays one-third of the cost to run Tanner’s program. The rest comes from cities.

In other words, the city has to pay the state $26,000 a year to run a program that allows it to save money by not having to do tests that water experts agree are not necessary.

“We’ll be the first to admit it’s overkill,” Tanner said.