LCDC: In need of great change

Kudos to Ron Nilson for hitting a home run on his analysis of the LCDC and what it is doing in this community. After reading Tony Berns’ propaganda piece a few days ago a missive from me was being composed to The Press, but now Ron has clearly and logically laid out what I consider the “soft corruption” that has been perpetrated on every single property taxpayer in Kootenai County for at least the last 12 years that I have lived here.

There has been no shortage of individuals such as myself writing about this to the paper, but the Coeur d’Alene residents who vote, and the four spenders on the City Council, have continued to allow the collection of buckets of money for their own local projects through “creative” use of the Urban Renewal District laws as Ron points out.

It is time that the responsible use of the URD provisions be enforced here as they are in Post Falls, that projects be shortened and the cash grabs that go on between the good old boy organizations who know how to beg for money to their buddies in the LCDC be stopped. There seems to be no end to the people or organizations, NIC included, that think up wonderful uses for other people’s money and find a way to get it through the LCDC rather than appropriate sources which include votes by the people who are ultimately providing the tax money handed out rather easily around here.

If anyone wonders why a resident of Hayden is all concerned about the Coeur d’Alene LCDC, you had better re-read Ron’s My Turn and open your mind a bit. All of the money that LCDC collects from tax incremental financing is money that is not available for county operations, and this amount has to be made up by taxing entities by increasing property tax levies throughout the area. So each of us is subsidizing Coeur d’Alene city development with higher yearly property taxes, projects are being held open for 10 to 20 years with the sweep of a pen, and the money just keeps flowing into the LCDC coffers for the power brokers in City Hall to have portioned out for whatever project they see fit. The members of LCDC are non-elected individuals appointed by the Coeur d’Alene council, their local connections are extensive to say the least, and votes by the people on massive projects are just plain bypassed.

This succinct analysis by Ron Nilson is fabulous and right on point, and thanks to The Press for publishing it. His credibility and business acumen are not questionable in my opinion, and he deserves a great thanks for having the courage to get it all out. Now, will local politicians who can affect what has been going on here grow a spine and finally take action to change the way the LCDC is allowed to function?

DAVID M. COPPOM

Hayden