Town hall meeting to be held Saturday

The city of Coeur d'Alene's Legislative Committee, in partnership with the Panhandle Coalition, will host a town hall meeting from 8 to 10 a.m. Saturday in the Coeur d'Alene Public Library Community Room, 702 E. Front Ave.

North Idaho Sens. John Goedde and Jim Hammond will be available to talk about and answer questions regarding this year's legislative session. Other North Idaho legislators have been invited as well.

This will be the fifth year that the city of Coeur d'Alene has hosted a town hall meeting, and the fourth year that it has partnered with the Panhandle Coalition.

In past town hall meetings, the subjects that were discussed ranged from daycare legislation and public infrastructure districts, to texting and education reform. In the past few years, the main topic has been Idaho's budget.

An important topic for cities has been the threat to reduce revenue sharing, or as Association of Idaho Cities Executive Director Ken Harward more succinctly stated when he visited in February, "state collected city revenue."

Due to budget shortfalls, certain members of the Idaho House of Representatives were looking at diverting as much as $30 million from Idaho cities and counties. Coeur d'Alene would have seen its share of revenue reduced from $557,493 to $258,965 - or by more than half based on FY 2010 figures. Thankfully, Harward said, economic reports from Idaho's budget office seem to have put that idea to rest.

Legislative efforts to overhaul, restrict, or completely eliminate urban renewal agencies and/or their districts may also be raised as a town hall topic. Urban renewal agencies are one of the most powerful economic development tools in Idaho.

Everyone is welcome and the event will be broadcast on CdA TV Channel 19.

Information: 769-2204