GROWTH: Shouldn’t mean taxing those who stayed

Kootenai County’s newly approved FY2027 budget raises the county property-tax levy by 3%, to roughly $67.7 million. That increase comes as homeowners across the county face additional tax hikes from cities, fire districts and other taxing entities.

The uncomfortable question is: Who is paying for our unprecedented growth?

Kootenai County’s median home price has increased 139% since 2016. A local housing study found that only about 20% of households could afford the median-priced home in 2023. 

Meanwhile, subdivisions continue spreading across Coeur d’Alene, Post Falls, Hayden and Rathdrum.

Growth generates enormous demands for roads, law enforcement, courts, EMS, fire protection and other infrastructure. Yet when those costs ultimately fall on the existing tax base, longtime residents effectively subsidize expansion while developers and landowners capture the upside.

The county says its tax rates remain comparatively low. That misses the point. A low tax rate on an increasingly unaffordable tax base is little consolation to families being priced out of the community they built.

We should demand a different model: growth should pay its proportional share of the infrastructure and services it requires. Developers should not receive the benefits of rapid expansion while existing homeowners inherit the long-term costs.

Kootenai County cannot tax its way out of a growth-management problem.

Our elected leaders should stop asking, “How much more can we tax?” and start asking, “Why are existing residents paying for growth they did not create?”

North Idaho’s future depends on getting that answer right.

CLAYTON SAPPINGTON

Rathdrum