Voters reject infrastructure bond
Lewiston voters rejected a $25 million bond to upgrade downtown infrastructure Tuesday, sending city officials back to the drawing board to figure out how to repair aging pipes and streets.
A total of 1,968 or 62% of those who cast ballots supported the measure and 1,211 or 38% voted against it.
Even though the bond received a majority of yes votes, it didn’t pass because it needed a 66.7% majority. About 18% of the city’s 17,500 registered voters went to the polls.
Tuesday’s vote followed weeks of the city officials educating the community about the issue, holding several information sessions and doing media interviews as well as social media and website posts.
“The voters clearly support the direction the city is heading with addressing critical infrastructure needs,” said Lewiston Mayor Dan Johnson, after receiving the election results.
“However the support is not broad enough for a bond measure to fund those needs,” he said. “The city will continue to move forward with addressing its critical infrastructure needs that will be reflected in future budget decisions.”
It’s not clear how much the absence of a traffic plan outlining how vehicles would travel through downtown Lewiston after streets were reconstructed with money from the bond played into the vote.
A draft traffic plan unveiled in the fall included three roundabouts near the Interstate or Blue Bridge and two-way traffic on portions of Main and D streets that currently have one-way traffic. City officials withdrew that plan before the vote, opting instead to develop the traffic plan after the vote.
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Money from the bond would have covered upgrades to sewer lines and pipes that carry water for fire protection and drinking.
It would have also provided money to improve a system of basins and pipes that funnel precipitation away from buildings and streets during storms.
Downtown streets would have been reconstructed. The work would be completed in an area between the Clearwater and Snake rivers, Pioneer Park and Ninth Street.
Key pieces of infrastructure that would have been upgraded in the project serve large areas of Lewiston outside of downtown, including sewer lines.
Had the measure passed, city’s elected officials planned to repay the bond with existing revenue.
That money would have come from revenue already being set aside to improve major streets as well as money earmarked for capital expenses in the fees Lewiston property owners pay for water, sewer and stormwater utilities.
But it was possible that property taxes might have been increased in the future if the city of Lewiston faced unforeseen financial challenges or a different set of elected officials chose to take another approach. The estimate of how much the bond would have cost was $36.15 per $100,000 of assessed value per year based on present conditions.