Highway District’S Future Remains Unsettled Approval Of Dover Request For Annexation Would Help, But City Opposed

Just before Christmas, the Sandpoint Independent Highway District laid off five employees.

By the first of the year, the administrative staff members will move from their third-floor office in the Federal Building - now decorated with a talking Christmas tree and other holiday trimmings - into the district shop.

It isn’t lack of money that’s the problem. It’s lack of work.

On Wednesday, highway district officials hope the district’s workload will increase.

That’s the day of a public hearing to consider the city of Dover’s request to annex into the highway district.

Since Nov. 28, when 1st District Court Judge James Judd awarded control of the streets to the city of Sandpoint, the highway district has had only about eight miles of streets to maintain.

Before that, the district maintained all the streets within the Sandpoint city limits.

“As far as we’re concerned, we’re going to make the best of what the situation is and start anew with what we have,” said Larry Glahe, chairman of the highway district’s commission.

But he’s hoping the Bonner County commissioners will give the district more by allowing the annexation to move forward, he said.

And if they don’t, the ball will be back in Judd’s courtroom.

Sandpoint city officials oppose the move to annex, calling it an issue of fairness.

“We don’t think that’s necessarily in the best interest of Sandpoint,” said Sandpoint Mayor Paul Graves. “The ramifications are not totally clear. There’s some question about how Sandpoint residents’ tax money would be used to fund Dover projects.”

Highway district officials approached the City Council on Dec. 14 with a proposed joint powers agreement that would allow the highway district to do work for the city.

But city officials said the proposal was premature.

“We’re not ready to pursue any conversation on that,” Graves said.

City officials, and critics of the highway district, would rather see the county move ahead with plans to hold an election on dissolution of the district.

The county agreed to hold the election after public hearings last spring, but those plans were challenged in court by the highway district.

A decision on whether the county can hold the election is pending in Judd’s court, but he’s waiting to see if the matter can be resolved outside of court.

The highway district has agreed to drop its suit against the county if the county allows Dover to annex into the highway district.

Bonner County Commissioner Bud Mueller called the deal “blackmail,” but the other county commissioners have agreed to consider it.

Glahe, the highway district commission chairman, would also like the county to reverse its decision on the election, but that’s not part of the court settlement.

It could be an indirect result of the Dover annexation, however.

The finding that it’s in the best interest of Dover to annex to the highway district, and the finding that it’s in the best interest of the highway district to dissolve are contradictory, said Brian Orr, county commissioner.

Orr did not support the decision to hold an election on dissolution in the first place, despite complaints from citizens that the highway district didn’t adequately care for the city streets.

“What a lot of people (city taxpayers) don’t realize is they’re going to lose a good chunk of money” if the district dissolves, Orr said.

The district gets its money mainly from taxes and state highway user revenues.

Only counties and highway districts can levy a separate road and bridge tax. The district collects more than $400,000 in taxes.

If the district dissolves, the county would collect those taxes instead of the highway district.

Last week, as a gesture of good will, district commissioners voted to allow the city to collect half its revenue. In the past, the district used to collect all of it. Last year, the city challenged that practice.

A future board could attempt to collect more, or less, taxes from city residents.

The district also collects about $500,000 of state highway user fees. That revenue would be lost if the district were to dissolve.

“Some people are trying to say no funds will be lost,” Glahe said. “That’s not true. And they’ll lose a service. The highway district has been a good service to this area.”

In order to form its street department, the city was forced to raise taxes this year to purchase equipment and hire a crew.

So now, Sandpoint residents are paying taxes to support both highway district and city street operations, even though the highway district no longer operates inside city limits.

The tax issue will need to be resolved if Dover is annexed into the highway district and the district continues to exist.

City officials are also concerned about the fate of highway district equipment if Dover is annexed. Some of that equipment was purchased through Sandpoint resident tax dollars and federal air-quality grants designed specifically for Sandpoint.

They don’t want that equipment used exclusively in Dover.

“There’s a basic fairness issue there,” Graves said.

The highway district has six pickups, six dump trucks, two graders, two tractors, three street sweepers and various other equipment - such as snowblowers, snowplows and tanker trucks - with a total value of about $1.2 million.

The district owes about $209,000 on land and equipment.

The city recently spent nearly $500,000 to purchase two graders, a front-end loader with a snowblower, a pickup with a plow and a sanding truck. According to Public Works Director Kody Van Dyk, the city still needs another grader, sweeping and de-icing equipment, a roller and a backup snowblower.

Wednesday’s hearing begins at 6:30 p.m. in Sandpoint Community Hall.

This sidebar appeared with the story: AT A GLANCE District money

The highway district gets its money mainly from taxes and state highway user revenues.

Only counties and highway districts can levy a separate road and bridge tax. The district collects more than $400,000 in taxes. If the district dissolves, the county would collect those taxes instead of the highway district.

The district also collects about $500,000 in state highway user fees. That revenue would be lost if the district were to dissolve.