Bradbury court decision puts Moscow in a bind

An Idaho Supreme Court decision has forced the city of Moscow to reduce spending and put a pause on filling vacant positions.

The high court made its decision on Bradbury v. City of Lewiston in July and Moscow Mayor Art Bettge said it has left the Latah County city scrambling to deal with a sudden 12% gap in its general fund budget.

The case stems from a lawsuit filed by former Lewiston City Council member John Bradbury against Lewiston. He argued the city had been collecting excessive utility fees and improperly spending municipal funds.

Most of Bradbury’s claims were dismissed, but he was successful in arguing that street impact fees were an illegal tax.

Bettge said the Supreme Court decision means money from the city’s utilities fund cannot be transferred to the general fund.

“All of those funds were truncated, so it essentially punched about a 12% hole in the budget overnight,” he said.

This has not led to any layoffs, but Moscow is not currently filling vacant positions. Bettge said among these unfilled positions are two police officer positions, a finance department position, an Arts Commission position and three others. He also said all departments are reducing spending.

Bettge said the city learned about the implications of the Supreme Court decision after it had approved its budget in August, so city officials had to go back and fix the budget to reflect the changes.

He called the process “excruciating and really unfortunate.”

During Monday’s Moscow City Council meeting, Moscow Arts Manager Megan Cherry said these budget changes have prompted her department to pause or discontinue several arts programs.

The city is discontinuing its operation of Entertainment in the Park, a series of music and children’s entertainment events held during the summer at East City Park. It is also discontinuing its operation of the Moscow Arts Commission Band, which consists of 30 to 40 volunteer musicians led by a paid band director. The MAC Band has the option of becoming its own independent organization.

The city is putting a one-year pause on replacing the vinyl wraps and storm drain murals in Moscow.

Moscow will continue to operate Artwalk, the Mayor’s Arts Awards, the Intermodal Transit Center Sculpture Garden, Third Street Gallery and Palouse Plein Air. It is also planning to replace the mural at the corner of Jackson and A streets that was damaged by vandalism in May.

Kuipers can be reached at akuipers@dnews.com.