Growth a big topic during Rathdrum coffee meeting

Rathdrum Mayor Vic Holmes and city staff visited with citizens Wednesday morning over coffee and doughnuts at the Rathdrum Community Center.

“It’s the first time we’ve done one of these,” said city administrator Leon Duce. “We didn’t know how many people to expect, but we planned for a lot.”

At least 20 people arrived with questions, some representing their neighborhoods. One pastor attended for his church congregation and others came for their own interests.

“I came to get a better connection to what’s going on,” said Jeff Payton, pastor of Patriot Church. “I’m here to meet the mayor and talk to him and find out more about what’s going on in the community.”

The most heavily debated topic at the meeting was growth, but other popular concerns included the burden of growth on the school systems, community safety, the rising costs of housing and snow plowing.

“How do you stop the growth?” joked Paul Foreman, a Rathdrum resident.

Other attendees argued that no one opposed growth outright, but that growth needs to be responsible and measured.

“I think the last thing we want on earth is the government to tell me where I can live,” Holmes said. “No one wants the government to tell us how we can develop our land. It’s a balancing act.”

Growth concerns from citizens often centered around the schools. Many of the attendees asserted to the mayor that Lakeland High School is full already, and adding more people wouldn’t be sustainable.

“We’re on the long-range facility planning (for the Lakeland Joint School District) and they say they’ve got a little bit more room,” Duce said. “It’s all tight, but they say they’ve got a little bit of room.”

Duce works with Lakeland Superintendent Lisa Arnold to coordinate city plans with the district’s long-range plans. They collaborate in an attempt to maintain adequate school services with steady population growth.

“You probably went to school, like I did,” Holmes said. “ And I have a moral obligation, in my mind, to keep the schools going.”

Covering the cost of school operations does pose challenges for the city, especially with low tax levy rates and plans to keep them low.

Holmes said he worked for a school district in Washington.

“When they need a school, the state pays for it," the mayor said. "Over here, the residents have to chip in for it. And we’ll cover that. We have big shoulders.”

Other attendees voiced concerns over the impact of growth on safety and policing.

“We actually have the national average of officers per thousand right now,” Duce said. “And when we grow, we take a part of that growth and fund more officers.”

Rathdrum has about 1.6 officers per 1,000 residents, and according to data from the FBI, the national average is about 2.4 per 1,000. Coeur d’Alene Police have about 1.7 officers per 1,000 Post Falls has 1.2 and Hayden has only 0.22, according to a report from the city of Hayden in October 2022.

“We have the level of service based on our population,” Holmes said.

Taxes from growth cover the cost of adding new officers as the city grows, Duce said.

Attendees shared concerns about property taxes going up as home values increased. One man said he pays double what he started at.

“If your home value has doubled, you won’t pay double your taxes,” Holmes said.

The Rathdrum tax rate has only increased once since 2016, according to a chart provided by city staff for the coffee. In 2018 the tax rate increased by 1.92%, less than the 3% allowable increase amount.

Some attended the coffee meeting just to stay involved.

“We are here because our kids moved here, and we love it here,” said Mike McPhail a member of the Lions Club and the American Legion Post 154.