Levy opposition campaign provides questionable info

A levy election campaign postcard recently delivered to homes in the Coeur d’Alene School District included a photo of a drag queen and a series of short questions and statements encouraging voters to shoot down the levies on today’s ballot in District 271. It was paid for by the Kootenai County Republican Central Committee.

The last question on the postcard specifically said, “ … $500 more per house? Let me think about it…No.”

There’s one problem, it’s not accurate to say passage of the levies will cost “$500 more per house,” although Brent Regan, chairman of the Kootenai County Republican Central Committee, disagrees.

Regan confirmed Monday that the $500 figure used on mailings and in text messages sent Monday to voters is based on the total tax cost of the levies to the owner of a median-priced home in Kootenai County.

It does not represent the tax increase property owners will experience if the levies pass.

“The old levy is expired, so it is out of the picture,” Regan told The Press via email. “If the new levies pass, the homeowner will pay $500 (average) more than if it doesn’t pass.”

There are two levies on the ballot in Coeur d'Alene. One would provide $25 million per year ($5 million more per year than the expiring two-year levy), and it would be in perpetuity, meaning the district would not need to ask voters to approve another levy every two years. The other levy on the ballot would provide $5 million per year for five years. This is a school plant facilities levy to help fund safety and maintenance needs at district schools.

The median price of a home in Kootenai County as of March 3, according to the CDA Multiple Listing Service, was $511,000.

For that homeowner, if their home was assessed at market value, their total tax bill in 2022 for the supplemental levy in the Coeur d’Alene School District was $370.56. That levy will expire June 30 and fall off the tax rolls.

If the two levies on the ballot today pass, a homeowner with the same assessment will pay in 2023 a total of $513.38 for the two school levies, an annual increase of $142.82 over what was paid in 2022.

If the levies fail at the polls, property owners will pay zero local property taxes for public education.

It will be the first time since 1986 that Coeur d’Alene voters have not supported a supplemental levy to pay for staff, classroom materials, equipment and more for programs and services not covered by or only partially covered by the funds the school district receives from the state.

Some of the programs the supplemental levy provides funding for are athletics and extracurricular activities, school nurses, mental health support, school resource officers, textbooks and career technical education classes.

Coeur d’Alene Superintendent Shon Hocker said someone would have to live in a multi-million dollar home to see a $500 increase in their school taxes if the levy passes, and that to say that is the average increase is a “blatant untruth.”

"It's part of their misinformation ploy that they roll out right before the levy vote," he said. "It's a monster falsehood."

He said the district wants informed citizens to make informed decisions. In today's era of misinformation, he said it's becoming more difficult for people to know what is true and what is false.

"We have evidence of bad information that is going to our voters," Hocker said. "I am going to be very disappointed if the results are negative, knowing these last attempts to scare people actually worked."

The school levy calculator on cdaschools.org allows people to input the value of their home to see how the levies will impact the school portion of their property taxes.

If the supplemental levy fails, the school district could hold another levy election in May.

Polls close at 8 p.m.

Kaye Thornbrugh contributed to this report.