Rathdrum Mountain access a priority

Rathdrum is continuing to fight for access to its property on Rathdrum Mountain.

The city owns 540 acres on the mountain overlooking the city and the Rathdrum Prairie, but gaining access to it for recreational opportunities has been elusive.

Mayor Vic Holmes, who delivered his State of the City address during the Rathdrum Area Chamber of Commerce lunch on Thursday, said working with landowners to access the city's property will be among the city's top priorities this year.

"It's my plan in the near future to have access so that the people who own it can use it," he said before his speech. "We'd like to create tourism. Our plan is to make it a picnic area with recreational paths."

The mountain has been logged so there are paths already in place.

"We've made offers on different properties, but so far we haven't gotten anywhere," he said. "We're doing everything we can to not go to court to get the land. We keep getting close, then it slips away. Several times we thought we had the answer."

Meanwhile, construction on the Highway 41/Highway 53 bridge in town is expected to start this fall.

Holmes said the four-lane bridge with pathways will help with traffic circulation. The city secured $2.9 million in federal funds for the project.

"It will make a significant difference with transportation," he said.

Despite tough times, the city has not had to dip into its "rainy day" fund and has built enough reserves for three months of operations or $700,000.

"The city is in a good financial position," Holmes said.

Holmes said the city has also held the line in increasing taxes the past five years, averaging an increase of 1.5 percent. Cities are allowed to raise taxes up to 3 percent under law.

Holmes said the city has been aggressive in pursuing grants to leverage city money.

A $117,000 grant was obtained for Majestic Park that's slated to open this year, $50,000 for a traffic study and $20,000 for a police emphasis program.

Holmes said helping spark the building industry will be another priority this year. The city issued just 20 single-family permits in 2011, compared to 25 in 2010 and 43 in 2009.

The city recently reduced its building impact fees 20 percent to entice construction and saved $50,000 in consultant fees by studying the fees in-house.

Despite the construction slowdown, there's still progress, including the construction of the Kootenai Technical Education Campus (KTEC) high school, a new charter school and the Northern Lakes fire station.

Holmes said doing away with dog licensing, but requiring residents to have identification tags on their dogs and rabies shots, is working.

"We haven't had any complaints and we've actually made the law stricter by taking a lot of the regulation off," Holmes said. "That's a true conservative idea."

Total crime in Rathdrum was down 36 percent in 2011 and arrests were down 30 percent.

Holmes said the city stopped chip sealing in its street maintenance program - and went with overlays instead - to save on costs, extend the life of the repairs and prevent window damage from flying chips.