EMERGENCY: Promoters of growth should pay

I believe the time has come that we re-examine the source of emergency funding in North Idaho.

The incredible growth we are experiencing is revealing a need we have never had in North Idaho. In the past, Idahoans supported the needs of our emergency services as well as law enforcement. We rarely needed a new fire station, but if we did, it was approved by voters. All that has changed. It seems that older folks with grown children, as well as newcomers to the area that have no school age children, are not interested in funding services or school levies. 

Our explosion of growth has left our emergency and fire services stretched in some cases beyond their ability to ensure the safety of the citizens or possibly emergency personnel, and again, many voters don’t seem to care. They are in Idaho now. They’ve “got theirs,” and they don’t want to pay more taxes to fund the services needed because of all the growth.

I believe the financial benefactors of this growth should start paying for these services. Most of us citizens only benefit by suffering the miserable traffic and road rage from impatient drivers, but they make money off it. Continuously. And might I say greedily?

The day is coming that our cities will require us to “save the aquifer” by limiting our water usage in the summertime. And it will all because of those that refuse to control growth. In the 1970s there was a common phrase: “Where do we go when they’ve ruined Idaho?” I don’t know.

CHARLENE JONES

Rathdrum