Kootenai County commissioners approve $131 million budget

COEUR d’ALENE — Kootenai County commissioners voted Wednesday to approve the county’s fiscal year 2025 budget, which includes levying 2% more taxes. 

Commissioners Leslie Duncan and Bruce Mattare voted in favor of the $131 million budget, while Bill Brooks opposed it. 

Brooks said the 2% cost of living adjustment budgeted for county employees, which amounts to about $1.7 million, is insufficient. He had advocated for a 3.5% increase, in line with recommendations from the county’s HR department. 

“I just can’t vote for that cheap COLA and I won’t do it,” he said. “The budget is more complex than that, but if you don’t take care of the fundamental things, the rest of it is just window dressing.” 

The county’s operating budget is $110 million. This figure doesn’t include the $21 million budget for Solid Waste, which is self-funded through user fees and fund balance, rather than through tax dollars. 

Personnel costs make up the bulk of the county’s budget, about $89 million. This includes the $1.7 million cost of living adjustment for all county employees except elected officials, as well as about $709,000 budgeted for step increases on employee anniversaries. 

The county saved about $1.9 million in personnel costs by halving the funding for vacant positions that had been open for more than 100 days. 

Health insurance costs for the county will increase $447,000 next year. About $119,000 of this increase will be passed on to employees through increases to deductions for spouses and children. 

The Kootenai County Sheriff’s Office has the largest budget of all county departments at $48 million, which was 44% of the total. 

Several community members urged commissioners not to grant KCSO’s request to fund automated license plate readers for patrol vehicles and the associated software, citing concerns about privacy rights and surveillance. 

Rathdrum resident Rachelle Ottosen said she believes automated license plate readers will inevitably lead to “tyranny to the masses in the future.” 

“This is straight out of ‘1984,’” Ottosen said. “We need to get rid of the Big Brother surveillance cameras that we already have, not add more and certainly not add more capabilities and sharing with, I’ve heard, some 800-plus agencies, possibly foreign governments and non-governmental organizations.” 

Kootenai County Sheriff Bob Norris said automated license plate readers have been used in Kootenai County for 16 years. No registered owner data is collected through license plate readers, he said, and the data is not accessible to federal authorities without a warrant. 

“I think it’s important that we take proactive steps in securing our privacy and fighting crime,” he said. “This is an officer safety feature that is now available to warn the deputy of a close proximity of a hazard. The ALPR system has worked well for us without any abuse here in Kootenai County.” 

Norris said the sheriff’s office will develop policies for how license plate data is gathered, stored and eventually purged, as well as who has access to the data. Frequent audits to ensure compliance with policy should occur, he said. 

Duncan expressed reservations about the technology. She said she supports frequent audits and guarantees about how any data is stored and accessed. 

“If it can save one life, it might be worth it,” she said. “However, this is pretty risky and so I would want all those questions to be answered before I support it fully.” 

Mattare shared a similar sentiment. 

“I would like to see a very solid data retention policy,” he said. “I want that policy to be shared with the community.” 

Commissioners are expected to formally adopt the 2025 budget today.

    Duncan
  

    Mattare