Kootenai County signs off on impact fees for fire, EMS

COEUR d’ALENE — Kootenai County commissioners adopted a resolution this week authorizing the county to collect impact fees meant to help fire districts and emergency medical services keep pace with growth.

Impact fees are collected during the construction process, usually from developers, to help minimize the strain placed on services by new construction.

Commissioners also signed off Tuesday on an agreement with Kootenai County EMS for the collection and payment of the impact fees. The county will sign agreements separately with each of the seven participating fire districts.

“As the county continues to grow, the No. 1 thing we need to do is bring more ambulances to deal with the call volume increase that more people create,” said Bill Keeley, chief of Kootenai County EMS.

The impact fee plan is based on projections that Kootenai County will grow by more than 50,000 residents within the next decade. The need for fire and EMS services is expected during that period to grow significantly, between 30% and 70% in different districts.

Local first responders already feel the strain of population growth, Keeley said. Call volume for Kootenai County EMS has increased about 8% in the last five years.

“It’s to the point that we’re getting ready to put on a new unit,” Keeley said.

Fire districts and Kootenai County EMS determined what capital items, facilities and equipment will be needed to maintain the current level of service based on projected growth.

Combined, the agencies anticipate spending around $83 million over the next 10 years to provide the current level of service. Half those costs will be necessitated by growth.

“The impact fees give us a reasonable ability to add units,” Keeley said. “It would take twice as long to put a new unit on strictly out of our general budget.”

He emphasized that impact fees are not a tax.

“It’s strictly targeted at new construction,” he said. “It is growth paying for growth. The people buying new houses are paying for what everyone else has already invested in.”

The average fire district fee would be $2,077 per residential unit or $1.06 per non-residential square foot, broken down as follows:

• Eastside: $1,800 per residential unit or 90 cents per non-residential square foot

• Hauser Lake: $3,666 per residential unit or $1.83 cents per non-residential square foot

• Kootenai County Fire and Rescue: $1,207 per residential unit or 60 cents per non-residential square foot

• Mica Kidd Island: $1,994 per residential unit or $1 per non-residential square foot

• Northern Lakes: $1,302 per residential unit or 65 cents per non-residential square foot

• Spirit Lake: $1,725 per residential unit or 98 cents per non-residential square foot

• Timberlake: $2,842 per residential unit or $1.42 per non-residential square foot

• Kootenai County EMS: $132 per residential unit or 7 cents per non-residential square foot