Story Published: Aug 4, 2010 at 8:54 PM PDT
Story Updated: Aug 4, 2010 at 9:11 PM PDT
Councilor Thyra Stevenson said Wednesday the tax hike is the result of a spending increase the council planned on using stormwater fees to supplement, a fee that was recently nullified by Judge John Bradbury.
Idaho law allows for a 3% yearly increase, so the other 3.3% will come from what's called forgone taxes.
Interim City Manager Dan Marsh said the original increase was going to be just 1.1%. But now they need extra money to keep the stormwater program running and match $500,000 of a $2 million grant to fix city stormwater problems.
"If somebody wants to know, just off the top of their head, how much they might be paying, look at your property tax bill before, then take the city portion, which is about half, and then multiply that by 6.3% and that's how much you would be paying additionally," more," said Stevenson.
Stevenson said she personally doesn't agree with the tax increase and has voted against it. She said she would rather see the city forgo or defer some of it's capital projects that are causing an increase in spending.
A $10 million increase from one year over the next is not acceptable," said Stevenson. "We need to control our spending and that's what I advocate before we do any kind of tax increase."
Lewiston citizens petitioning for the recall of four city councilors, including Stevenson, are speaking their minds about the increases as well. Recall committee member Jim Spangler said, like Stevenson, he thinks the city should cut spending rather than raise taxes.
"If that's a way of solving the problem, everybody cuts back a little in whatever aspect of the city operations that's fine," said Spangler. "But don't pass it on as a tax increase, don't go back to the taxpayer and force that upon us."
The new fiscal year begins October 1. But the budget isn't final yet.
Citizens can still voice their opinions. Stevenson said there are three more public hearings before the budget needs to be voted on. A schedule of those hearings and the entire budget can found at city hall or the city's website. The next budget hearing is at Monday's city council meeting.
