Boundary County levy election nears
Today is the last day Boundary County voters can apply to vote absentee for Tuesday’s school levy election.
Voters can apply for absentee ballots until 5 p.m. at the district office. Ballots must be turned in by the time polls close at 8 p.m. Tuesday.
The Boundary County School District is asking voters to approve a maintenance and operations levy that would collect $799,700 each year for two years. Voters rejected a one-year measure on March 29, but the school board voted to rerun the levy to avoid drastic cuts and extended the commitment to two years.
If Tuesday’s levy doesn’t pass, the school board plans to meet that evening to make cuts. Sports and other extracurricular activities, textbook purchases and some jobs would be eliminated, and Naples Elementary would be closed, according to the district.
Polls will be open 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Tuesday at Bonners Ferry High, Boundary County Junior High, Valley View Elementary, Mt. Hall Elementary, Naples Elementary and Evergreen Elementary.
Kootenai County forms pay review group
Local residents will soon decide how much money Kootenai County’s elected officials make.
The Kootenai County Commission voted Tuesday to form a citizen’s review committee that would recommend pay for the three commissioners, sheriff, clerk, treasurer, assessor, prosecutor and coroner. The commissioners would retain the final say.
Commissioner Rick Currie said he hopes the group has its first meeting in June. The commission wants a recommendation to include in the fiscal year 2006 budget it is currently hashing out.
The committee will include several business people who have experience with salaries and employees. The county randomly will select the rest of the committee from the jury pool.
The commission also voted to adopt the recommendations of a $60,000 study of the salaries and benefits of all 680 county employees.
The new pay rates will be reflected in employees’ June 17 paychecks.
Yet the commission refused to release the study’s recommendations because it wants county employees to know the results before they are made public. Currie said that information should be released next month.
Q’emiln boat ramp open for summer
Avista Utilities has begun normal summer operations at the Post Falls dam by closing the spill gates. The boat ramp at Q’emiln Park will be open today through Monday.
The boat ramp will be closed Tuesday through June 5 to accommodate the annual Post Falls Days event held at the park, Avista said in a news release. The reopening of the boat ramp is expected on June 7, subject to weather.
Medical center garage ready for parking
Coeur d’Alene Kootenai Medical Center will cure a long-lasting headache next week by opening a 390-stall parking garage.
The $4.8 million garage has room to expand both up and out and eventually could add 1,000 more parking stalls, according to a KMC news release.
Hospital staff, patients, family and visitors will park in the new garage, designed by Northwest Architectural Co. in Spokane. The building includes basalt columns on the west side, a metal sculpture by Coeur d’Alene artist Teresa McHugh on the south side and $60,000 in security equipment.
The garage opens Tuesday.
NIC trustees approve tax dollars in budget
North Idaho College trustees took another step toward finalizing a budget that includes $1 million in foregone taxes.
Spokesman Kent Propst said Thursday that trustees voted 4 to 1, with Mic Armon dissenting, to develop next year’s budget with the help of the tax dollars. The college has about $3.5 million in foregone taxes, or taxes that the college could have collected in past years, but didn’t.
At the board’s April meeting, administrators recommended limiting tuition and fee increases and tapping into foregone taxes to ease the burden on students. Propst said the proposed budget, including the foregone taxes, for the coming school year could be approved at the board’s June meeting.
The owner of a home valued at $100,000 after exemptions would pay about $1 more a month if the college collects $1 million in foregone taxes, according to estimates.
Early-bird deadline approaching for raffle
Tuesday is the early-bird deadline to buy tickets for the North Idaho College Foundation’s Really BIG Raffle and the chance to win a $200,000 custom home built by NIC carpentry students.
Those who purchase a ticket by Tuesday will be entered into a special drawing for a 32-inch color TV and a DVD/VHS player. Tickets, sold for $100 each, will continue to be available until all 4,500 are sold or until the July 6 drawing is held.
The grand prize in this year’s drawing is under construction at 1374 Coquille Ct. in Post Falls, in the Montrose subdivision. The 3,500- square-foot rancher features covered front and back porches and a three-car garage on a landscaped corner lot.
Tickets are available at the NIC Foundation Office and online at www.nic.edu/foundation/rbr. For information, call (208) 769-3271.
Tickets will also be sold during open houses at the grand prize home on June 5, 12 and 19.
CdA High School marks 100 years
Coeur d’Alene High School is trying to track down lists of graduates from several years so they can be invited to the school’s 100-year celebration this summer.
Jim Gray, a CHS assistant principal and chairman of the 100-year celebration, said the committee has adopted the motto “Leave No Viking Behind.”
Gray said they are trying to compile lists of graduates from the following years: 1941, 1953, 1961, 1968, 1971-74, 1976-80, 1985-90, 1992, 1994 and 1996 to present.
Coeur d’Alene High’s 100 Years of Excellence Celebration is planned for July 29-31. The festivities will begin with a parade down Sherman Avenue on July 29, a mixer, and reunions and activities for classes.
Visit www.cdaschools.org/chs/ or chsallclassreunion.myevent.com/. A phone is set up at (208) 765-4256 and information can be e-mailed to 100years@sd271.k12.id.us.