TAXES: Same script, one empty wallet

The Post Falls City Council just raised your property taxes 4%, plus a 3% levy, on a 6–0 vote. On August 26, Kootenai County goes for another 3%. And Coeur d’Alene? Working on its fourth straight year of increases, because why stop a winning streak when nobody’s watching? I’m challenging these and they all read from the same script.

Every one of them blames House Bill 389. It passed in 2021. A five-year-old law isn’t a surprise, it’s a planning parameter they’ve had half a decade to absorb. Every one blames health insurance, the county’s $1.8 million, the city’s 15%; as if rising premiums don’t hit every family and business here, none of whom get to tax a neighbor to cover them. 

And all of them cry poverty while sitting on money. Post Falls holds over $255 million in cash and reserves. The county opened this budget cycle with a $5.6 million gap and closed it to $154,000, proof that five million in cuts was there all along, found only when forced. The county took zero percent in 2020 and two percent last cycle. Neither is “compelled.” They’re choosing the ceiling.

Identical excuses, identical outcome, and your wallet the only “solution.” They don’t have a revenue problem, they have a discipline problem, and no reason to fix it while the room stays empty.

So fill the room. The county hearing is August 26.

RANDALL HILDEBRAND

Post Falls