CDA 271 seeks $20M per year for two years

COEUR d’ALENE — Trustees for the Coeur d’Alene School District gave the go-ahead for a two-year, $20 million per year maintenance and operations levy Monday night. The measure will appear on the March 12, 2019, ballot.

Trustees will finalize the ballot language at their Jan. 7, 2019, regular meeting.

Also Monday, trustees decided not to ask voters to make the district’s supplemental levy permanent.

Prior to the board’s discussion, members of the public voiced concerns.

“To assume that these voters will allow or feel comfortable with a perpetual property tax I believe is a big mistake,” said John Barlow.

Barlow and Wanda Quinn shared concerns about the impact that a permanent property tax would have on older homeowners.

“It’s not positive reinforcement or a ‘Thank you’ to patrons who have supported us through the years to turn their support into a permanent levy,” Quinn said.

A better solution would be to require the state to increase its funding for Idaho public school districts, they said.

Resident Russ McLain said he supports an increase in the levy and asked that the ballot language be very clearly worded.

However, resident John Rubert said he was totally against both the levy and the question of making it permanent. Though he supports bonds to build new schools, he said it’s wrong for the district to hold levy elections in March, when most voters will not turn out to cast a ballot.

“I challenge you to put it in the fall,” he told trustees.

Eric Heringer of Piper Jaffray said the district could both increase the supplemental levy’s price tag to $20 million and keep its tax rate stable for years to come, thanks to the 6.07 percent average growth in the district. Superintendent Steve Cook said the district’s modeling revolves around “how to do the least damage to homeowners,” and how to grow the budget from new construction. The model also includes plans for a $34 million bond election in 2020.

Trustee Tom Hearn said he respects Quinn’s and Barlow’s “concern that permanency is rubbing people the wrong way.” Hearn said he doesn’t want a permanent levy if it will “create problems down the road for bonds and other requests.”

Trustee Tambra Pickford agreed, saying it would be simpler if voters got to just say yes or no on a $20 million supplemental levy for two years instead of multiple questions including making the levy permanent.

The board’s newest trustee, Jennifer Brumley, shared her colleagues’ concerns about permanency. Brumley also said she had come into the discussion considering a higher levy amount, but said she was now “convinced that we need to stay right here to keep voters comfortable that we’re not asking for too much.”

Trustee Lisa May said that after discussions with property owners, she thinks $20 million for two years is the right thing to do.

The district could take up the question of permanancy again down the road, she said. Increased funding needs to come from the state instead of local property taxpayers, she added.

Board chairman Casey Morrisroe said he also thinks $20 million for two years is “reasonable.” The board approved Hearn’s motion for a two-year, $20 million levy unanimously.