Plaudits For Idaho Tax-Cutting Actions
The proof arrived in the mail last week: Property taxes are falling in the Idaho Panhandle - though taxable values increased an average of 23.2 percent last year.
Overall, North Idaho taxpayers will pay 3.1 percent less in property taxes this year than last.
In Coeur d’Alene, for example, an owner of a home valued at $92,000 saw property taxes fall 5 percent, although overall property valuation increased 20 percent.
Many people deserve credit for this phenomenon: Idaho Gov. Phil Batt, tax watchdogs Ron Rankin and Concerned Businesses of North Idaho and local government leaders who kept campaign promises to hold the line on taxes.
Such vigilance and refusal to conduct business as usual restore people’s faith in government.
Penny-pinching Batt set the stage for tax cuts by successfully pushing a legislative package that moved $40 million in public school funding from property taxes to the state’s general fund. As a result, North Idaho school district tax bills dropped significantly - for example, 8.2 percent in Coeur d’Alene and 5.6 percent in Post Falls.
Equally important, Batt’s legislation limited local governmental budgets to a 3 percent increase, with exceptions for growth and voter-approved tax overrides.
Here’s where restraint by local governments in North Idaho came into play. Many governments resisted the urge to increase taxes by the 3 percent permitted. In fact, all taxing districts in North Idaho - from cities and counties to fire, highway, school and sewer districts - will collect a combined $104.6 million in property taxes this year, a $3.4 million drop from 1994’s total of $108 million.
Kootenai County commissioners earned high praise from county tax activists earlier this fall by adopting a fiscal 1996 budget that is $58,000 less than last year’s. Under the 3 percent cap, they could have raised property taxes $1.1 million.
Rankin, president of the Idaho Property Owners Association, held the Legislature’s feet to the fire with his unsuccessful effort to place the One Percent Initiative on the 1994 ballot.
Finally, the Kootenai County business community, behind executive Pat Raffee and Concerned Businesses of North Idaho, played a crucial role in the tax cuts. Concerned Businesses monitored budget hearings of the 40-some Kootenai County taxing districts, offered cost-saving tips, and conducted workshops for governments on how to set budgets.
The process worked in North Idaho because businesses and the public got involved.
Maybe there’s a lesson here for the financially troubled governments of Spokane County.
, DataTimes The following fields overflowed: CREDIT = D.F. Oliveria/For the editorial board