Hikes In Taxes A Vicious Cycle

Let me get this straight. You’re mad, and you’re not going to take it anymore. Right? You just got your property assessment notice, and it’s gone up a bazillion dollars.

So, you’re going to race down to the county assessor’s office and complain. Maybe you’ll send 10 bucks to that ol’ anti-tax devil Ron Rankin and promise him, “You can count on me next time.” Maybe you’ll even vote against every future school levy or bond. That’ll show ‘em.

Huh!

Property taxes skyrocket because residents aren’t persistent and informed. They gripe when they receive assessment notices and possibly appeal them to the county Board of Equalization (which is the Board of County Commissioners, for those keeping score). But few people bother to attend the budget hearings that affect their tax bills the most - those for the city, county and school district.

So, cagey elected officials surmise (incorrectly) that only Rankin disapproves of tax hikes, and they find a million and one excuses to crank up taxes. After all, the forgetful voters won’t receive their tax notices until after the November elections. They’ll scream about the higher taxes then but will have adjusted to them by the time new valuations hit their mailboxes next spring.

It’s a vicious cycle.

Thank God for Idaho’s new cap limiting property tax increases to 3 percent of the previous year’s budget.

School officials make voting as hard as possible

It’s hard to say who deserves a bigger “Hot Potato” - school district officials who set separate elections each spring for levies and trustees. Or the huge majority of voters who sit out the important trustee elections.

Because I’ve already hammered fat, dumb and unhappy voters, let’s turn the heat up on school officials.

It makes no financial sense to hold separate elections - other than to allow a group with telemarketing skills to control trustee seats. Only 636 people voted in two recent School Board elections in Coeur d’Alene; only 558 voted in two Post Falls elections. Meanwhile, override levies a few weeks earlier had attracted 6,685 in Coeur d’Alene and 2,147 in Post Falls.

Trustee elections are as critical as levies. Trustees decide policy and hold the district’s purse strings.

Schools easily could combine the two elections and ensure a representative turnout by requiring patrons to vote at specified polling places. Now, a school voter can cast a ballot at any polling place.

Figuring out the logistics doesn’t involve rocket science, folks - just consideration for those paying the bills.

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