Hayden says no to risky federal funding

HAYDEN — The city of Hayden decided not to claim its share of federal funds aimed to help its property owners, choosing to preserve its guaranteed 3% increase option instead.

Proposed in June by Gov. Brad Little, the plan would use COVID-related emergency funds to eventually help property owners handed down through Congressional CARES Act legislation. Little announced a $200 million plan from Idaho’s $1.25 billion allocation to alleviate the burden of property taxes.

“Multiple counties were concerned with the language of the CARES Act and whether or not we could use the money in this way,” Administrator Brett Boyer said at Tuesday’s City Council meeting at City Hall.

Little’s plan calls for cities and counties that opt in, if their councils and commissions choose, to ask for funds that would essentially act as a credit on property tax owners.

The plan allows cities to use the funds to pay for public safety salaries, so long as those cities don’t use property taxes to pay for those salaries. Those funds would then be redistributed as a credit on property owners’ tax bills. Those cities and counties that opt in would forfeit their right to a 3 percent property tax increase as guaranteed by the state.

But Little’s plan isn’t set in stone, as his administration is still negotiating with the Department of the Treasury to establish whether or not alleviating property taxes through public safety salaries complies with the CARES Act.

“There are issues or concerns with many entities as to whether or not we can do this on a statewide basis,” Boyer said.

Furthermore, since Hayden contracts law enforcement services from Kootenai County, city staff expressed concern over whether Hayden would qualify for the funds.

Funding was initially framed by the state for as much as $300,000 to Hayden but could end up as low as $80,000, depending on how much extra staffing Kootenai County applies within city limits.

So what’s the catch?

Boyer said the 3 percent annual increase taxing entities have almost uniformly applied in Idaho would no longer be an option if they jumped on Little’s plan.

Boyer said that particular clause would cost the city a guarantee of more than $50,000, too much of a risk for Hayden to chase down for something that was by no means set in stone. He added that another catch made Hayden’s involvement untenable.

“Ours is a unique situation,” Boyer told the council, “in that we have a contract for public safety with the county. If the county requests those funds, we can’t request those funds, because it would basically be double-dipping.”

Because Idaho entities have until July 17 — this Friday — to inform the state whether they wish to opt into the plan, the matter had to come before the community’s governing body.

A reluctant Mayor Steve Griffitts said he’d entertain a motion to apply for the state program, getting silence from the City Council in a no-vote that essentially sunk the measure.