Tough time to ask for money
COEUR d'ALENE - The failure of two local property tax measures this week isn't weakening the resolve of those behind the development of a public professional-technical high school on the Rathdrum Prairie.
Financing for the Kootenai Technical Education Campus - to build a $9.5 million high school building that will serve students in the Coeur d'Alene, Post Falls and Lakeland districts - goes before voters at levy elections taking place Aug. 24 in all three districts.
"When is the right time to do the right thing? Now is the time we need this more than ever, to be able to put the money into the community that will give us a return on our investment," said Post Falls business leader Ron Nilson, one of the founding members of the KTEC committee and vice chair of the school's advisory board.
Voters on Tuesday in the Kootenai County Fire and Rescue district rejected a $2 million bond by 167-165, with two-thirds approval needed for the bond to pass. The measure would have paid to complete a training facility and other building upgrades. The same day, St. Maries voters defeated a $2.1 million water bond.
Nilson doesn't believe the failures of those initiatives are a reflection of what might happen when the KTEC levies are on the ballot.
"KTEC isn't just a good thing for our kids or so businesses can have a supply of skilled workers," Nilson said. "It's also an opportunity to attract businesses that will lower the tax base for every Kootenai County resident, if we do this right."
Steve Griffitts, president of Jobs Plus, the region's economic development agency, said he knows support of the KTEC levy is a commitment for the citizens of each of the school districts.
"But very few times in our lives do we get the opportunity to change generations," Griffitts said.
If the financing earns voter approval, the 50,000-square-foot school is expected to open in 2013 and will offer classes in skilled trades - health occupations, welding, construction and automotive trades - to junior and senior high school students from the three districts.
The school would be governed by an executive board of the three school district superintendents and two business owners. An advisory board of 14 business owners would make ground-level decisions.
Operating costs would be covered with regular per-pupil state funding that will follow a student from his or her home district, enhanced funding from the Idaho Division of Professional-Technical Education on a program-by-program basis, and the school would likely qualify for some federal professional-technical education funding as well.
Planning for KTEC began several years ago, before the economy fell flat. Despite the recession, the committee secured a 20-acre site for the high school using no taxpayer dollars. The family of the late Wayne Meyer donated 10 of those acres, and the balance was paid for by private donations, mainly from KTEC committee members or their businesses.
The committee also created a partnership between area business leaders, the superintendents and school boards in the Coeur d'Alene, Post Falls and Lakeland school districts, and North Idaho College. The college owns land adjacent to the high school where in the future, it plans to create its own professional-technical facility.
"I can't speak for the entire committee. We knew going in that this effort to provide additional opportunities for our students would not be easy," said Post Falls Superintendent Jerry Keane. "We believe we have an excellent proposal that deserves support even in these difficult economic times. However, we are taking nothing for granted."
If the levies are approved by voters, the projected tax rate in Coeur d'Alene would be an additional 29 cents per $1,000 of taxable property assessed. The owner of a $150,000 home, after taking a 50 percent homeowners exemption, would see a $22 increase on his or her tax bill.
Post Falls' rate is projected at 40 cents per $1,000 of taxable property, and $30 per year for the next two years after the exemption. Passage would not result in higher tax bills, however, because of other property taxes being retired and coming off the rolls. If the levy fails, the property tax bill for the owner of a $150,000 home in Post Falls would decrease by $30 per year.
Lakeland homeowners would see an increase of 37 cents per $1,000 of taxable property, for a tax bill on a $150,000 home increased by $27.75 after the exemption.