Candidates Sound Old Themes Bonner County Commission Hopefuls Pledge To Deliver On Tax Cuts And Fewer Restrictions

Tax cuts, better roads, fewer restrictions on landowners and a pledge for common sense in county government.

Those are not new issues for Bonner County, but they’re still the resounding themes for five commissioner candidates.

Voters have endured the same pledges for years and, on Nov. 5, it’ll be time to elect officials who can deliver more than rhetoric, the candidates say.

Republican Bud Mueller and Independent Patty Douglas will try and unseat incumbent Democrat Steve Klatt for the District 1 post.

In District 2, incumbent Wayne Newcomb was ousted in the primary election by Republican Larry Allen. Allen is now in a runoff with Oldtown Mayor Brian Orr, a Democrat.

Most of the candidates have similar views. They want to slash the county budget, build a new landfill and roads that withstand a North Idaho winter, and get planning and zoning officials off the backs of property owners.

“I believe in less government and running the county like a business. That means we have to be more efficient and make cuts to streamline departments,” said Mueller.

One of his main goals is to revamp the planning and building department. Building inspections should be done by private contractors, not the county, and a reasonable flat fee should be adopted for building permits.

“We need to reduce the hassles so a permit can be issued in one day not in several weeks,” Mueller said. “I don’t want to do away with the department but scale it way back.”

Klatt, who noted that taxes have held steady under his term, touts himself as the most conservative commissioner. Yet he doesn’t agree with Mueller’s view of government. It lacks foresight and planning for this growing county, he said.

“We are providing minimal services now. We need to keep those in place along with the minimal regulations to guide future growth.”

The first item on Klatt’s agenda is to complete a comprehensive land-use plan. The current one is outdated and creates unneeded hassles for new businesses and property owners.

Douglas has been a watchdog of the commissioners office for years. She’s been unable to make any changes as a citizen and said it was time to run for office.

Although other candidates are skeptical, Douglas said she can cut property taxes by 50 percent in four years. She would start by eliminating most of the road department and privatize it. Opening a landfill here instead of trucking garbage out of state would also save taxpayers money, she said.

“If I lose the taxpayers lose the opportunity to correct all that is wrong with our current methods of operation,” Douglas said.

Easing the burden on taxpayers is the major issue for the two District 2 candidates.

“The bottom line is we need to trim the budget,” Allen said.

He favors cutting county travel expenses, as well as dues the county pays to belong to the Sheriffs Association, Idaho Association of Counties and other memberships.

By reorganizing the solid waste, planning and zoning and road departments and ridding them of top managers, the county can also save money, he said.

Orr agrees that the budget needs to be reviewed line by line with a “meat ax.”

“My belief is for every dollar we spend we should get a dollar’s worth of service, that is not happening now,” Orr said. “We need to tighten up all the departments.”

He favors a local option tax and impact fees to keep property taxes in check. Those taxes are not within the county’s authority to impose, but commissioners should be lobbying for that option, he said.

With the timber economy on the decline here, it’s also time the county made long range plans to attract new industry.

“That means we need to clean up our land-use regulations and planning and zoning to make it more user friendly,” Orr said. “We need regulations but not the onerous ones we have now.”

, DataTimes MEMO: See individual profiles by name of candidate.