Highway District Adjusts Budget

A last-minute resolution passed by the Sandpoint Independent Highway District commissioners cost the city of Sandpoint $74,000 and the city of Ponderay $1,395.

The highway district, however, is ahead $75,478.

A resolution the district commissioners passed in a special meeting Sunday shifted two-thirds of the highway district budget from a maintenance and operations levy category to a special levy category.

By state law, special levies don’t have to be shared with the city, whereas regular levies do.

The district was facing a significant budget shortfall because prior to this fiscal year, it hadn’t been sharing its revenues with the city of Sandpoint. But this fiscal year, the county began dividing the levy revenues between the district and the city *EMOwhen no one could produce an alleged agreement that justified the misappropriation of the tax dollars.

But the county corrected tax distribution after the highway district approved its budget, leaving it with a shortfall of about $200,000.