Cd'A council passes $103 million appropriations

After a few last-minute debates to hash out the last few thousand dollars of spending decisions, the Coeur d’Alene City Council voted 5-1 to approve a $103 million appropriations bill, also known as the operational ceiling of costs to keep the city running for another year, starting Oct. 1.

“I’m pleased,” council member Dan English admitted at the Tuesday night council meeting. “This has been a painful process, and I can remember different versions of this, where it looked like, ‘Oh man, how in the world are we going to make this work.’ Everybody’s had some give-and-take, and all that, but I can certainly appreciate that this (budget) is very responsible, and I appreciate the magic that got worked.”

The resolution predicts $112,127,121 in revenues, including $454,272 in new construction growth. The city’s taxable valuation is expected to shoot up by more than $600 million, from $5.25 billion in 2020 to an estimated $5.86 billion in 2021. Meanwhile, the city’s levy rate — should Gov. Brad Little’s federal CARES Act tax plan survive legal challenges, meaning the city won’t go after $687,110 in lost property tax — actually drops from $4.46 per $1,000 in assessed value down to $4.12 per $1,000.

But not all of the budget was carved out by the accounting magic English praised. The city was set to carry $7.8 million in general fund balance over from the previous fiscal year. But a drop in revenue projections — mainly as the result of diminishing revenues from the state of Idaho in the wake of COVID-19 — forced the city to dip into the general fund to the tune of just over $1.2 million. It was a source of contention for council president Woody McEvers.

“I feel like I have to say ‘no’ because of fund balance,” McEvers, the lone vote of dissent, told his fellow council members. “I don’t like being one guy going, ‘I’m right.’ In my heart, I’m right. Fund balance is not something that you use to keep things going. We’ve got a million bucks -- a million -- just to take care of employees, and they’re worth it. Don’t get me wrong. But next year, are we going to dip again?”

But McEvers also equivocated, saying that while he stands by his vote against dipping into the general fund to the tune of $1.2 million, he admits the answer is not on the horizon.

“The problem is, I don’t have an answer,” he said. “I don’t have an answer of where we’re going to get a million bucks to take care of our employees this coming year. Is it going to come from taxes? Is it going to come from revenue streams? I kind of doubt it.”

Council member Dan Gookin, a famous fiscal conservative, voted for the budget in no small part because of its tentative position to decline a 3% property tax increase, some of which will be recovered should Gov. Brad Little’s plan to assign federal CARES Act funds to cities for property tax relief survive legal challenges.

“I’m going to vote for this because it’s zero,” Gookin said. “I think the 0% (increase) is going to help a lot of people who are hard-hit ... There’ve been a lot of people hit hard by COVID: the most vulnerable among us, single mothers, the elderly. I’m glad we’re going to be able to help them out with a zero.”

Gookin added — with a touch of sarcasm — if there was ever a time to justify using part of the general fund balance, 2020 and the pandemic it brought with it was absolutely that time.

“I’m also OK with using fund balance,” he said. “We always talk about (saving) fund balance for an emergency. Can anyone think of anything this year that could even slightly be considered an emergency? So I’m OK with it. Not forever, but this year, I’m good.”