Post Falls fee hikes proposed
<p>Sheri Benner, animal shelter manager for the Post Falls Police Department Animal Safety division, takes a dog out of its kennel for some time outside Monday during her shift. The city council will hold a public hearing tonight on fee increase proposals that could include an adoption fee of $40 to help offset fees associated with housing dogs.</p>
POST FALLS - Cemetery fee hikes, a new dog adoption fee and a 117-acre zone change request will be considered by the Post Falls City Council tonight after public hearings.
Post Falls Police is requesting the $40 dog adoption fee to help pay for sheltering the animals and to curb abuse by putting a value on the dogs, Chief Scot Haug said.
"The thought is that, if there's value placed on the dogs, people would be more apt to care for the animal," Haug said. "We also want to help offset the cost of feeding and caring for the animals."
Haug said the police department would try the proposed fee for a year and re-evaluate it to make sure it doesn't hurt adoption rates.
"We have a low euthanization rate - less than 1 percent - and we hope that adding the fee does not change that number," said Haug, adding that the dogs that are euthanized are either sick or vicious.
The new adoption fee proposal is part of the public hearing on fee increases, including those proposed for Evergreen Cemetery.
Burial lots and niches are both proposed to increase $300. The hikes would raise burial lots to $1,100 to $1,500 depending on location. Niches would range from $950 to $1,050.
Fees on the opening and closing of lots and niches are also proposed to increase between $50 and $200 depending on the date.
The cemetery fees are proposed since the city plans to expand Evergreen Cemetery and the city council has directed staff to operate it as self-sufficient without using any general fund tax dollars.
Years ago, as much as 90 percent of the cemetery budget was supported by the general fund, Post Falls Parks and Recreation Director Dave Fair said. Today, the percentage is about 25 percent.
Fair said this is the first time since he was hired at the city in 1994 that a council has directed staff to operate the cemetery as being totally self-sufficient.
All fee increases would go into effect Feb. 23.
In other business, the council will continue a public hearing on a 117-acre zone change for the Expo at Post Falls property on the west side of the city between Interstate 90 and Seltice Way and Beck Road and Pleasant View Road.
Watson and Associates is seeking a zoning for 70 acres of commercial, 45 acres of single-family residential and 2 acres of high-density, multi-family residential.
The entire site is currently zoned industrial.
"This zone change will allow for the development of Woodbridge South, which is a proposal for 186 single-family residential homes and the development of future commercial properties in the Expo at Post Falls project," the application states.
"With the current demands of today's ever-changing market, the project proponent believes that more rooftops are needed in West Post Falls to support existing and future commercial and industrial projects."
The Planning and Zoning Commission in November recommended approval of the request. The proposal was heard by the council during a public hearing in December before it was tabled until tonight to allow city attorney John Cafferty time to review the documentation.
The meeting starts at 6 p.m. at City Hall, 408 N. Spokane St.