Stories in this Regional News Roundup are excerpted from weekly newspapers from around the region. This is part one, with part two set to appear in Monday’s Tribune online at lmtribune.com.

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KAMIAH — Dodd Snodgrass, executive director of Clearwater Economic Development Association (CEDA), led a public hearing on July 6 at Kamiah City Hall concerning the Kamiah Pool restoration project. A project status hearing is required for projects receiving Idaho Community Development Block Grant Funds, Snodgrass explained.

In addition to Snodgrass, Krista Baker, from CEDA, and Colt Downing, Idaho Stage Construction, the pool contractor, participated in the hearing, along with city councilors, mayor Betty Heater and the city clerk and deputy clerk. No members of the public attended the hearing, despite considerable interest and speculation about the pool.

Heater said it saddens her that the community doesn’t see how hard everyone has worked to make this happen.

“I’m just looking forward to the day we get it open,” she said. “The kids will be on cloud nine. That’s why we’re doing it. As long as I’m mayor, it will stay open.”

“I think everyone agrees, this project is a labor of love,” Snodgrass said. He referenced the many challenges with supply chain issues, delays, and increasing costs that have hampered the project. Downing agreed with Snodgrass that despite all the obstacles people kept going.

“It’s really the volunteers who made it happen,” Downing said.

The Kamiah Swimming Pool Funding chart shows the mix of funding sources for the $587,700 project budget. The block grant money in the amount of $225,000 contributes 38% of the project budget based on a revised project budget, provided by Snodgrass. The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development allocates funds to the state of Idaho for distribution by the Idaho Department of Commerce.

Five foundations based in Idaho or the Pacific Northwest provided grants totaling $174,000 or 30% of the budget. These include the Lewis Clark Health ($75,000), DeAtley ($50,000), Laura Moore Cunningham ($25,000), Innovia ($14,000) and Avista ($10,000) Foundations.

The City of Kamiah funded $188,700 or 32% of the project. This includes $161,000 from the Upper Clearwater Community Foundation (UCCF),

— Norma Staaf , The Clearwater Progress (Kamiah), Thursday

Property owners protest assessed values

GRANGEVILLE — Using market value to determine property assessments rankled some Idaho County landowners who questioned the fairness of the process. County assessor Kim Nuxoll said Idaho Code 63-314 requires counties to assess property at current market value each year. According to the code, “taxable property shall be appraised or indexed annually to reflect current market value.”

The Idaho County commissioners acted as the county board of equalization several times in the past few weeks to hear protests from property owners on their 2022 assessed values. Nuxoll confirmed the number of protests has increased this year. She said some people don’t dispute the value; they just don’t like the law.

Appearing before the board on July 5, Charles Holliman directed a question to commissioner Ted Lindsley. “How do you like our 2022 assessments?” Holliman asked.

“I think it’s in line with what’s going on,” Lindsley replied, adding, “I’m not a fan of it.”

Holliman owns five homes, his residence and four rentals in the Silverlake Estates and Silverlake 2 subdivisions south of Grangeville, according to Nuxoll.

“The values since 2019 have skyrocketed,” Holliman said. He has seen the property values increase by $150,000 or more for each house.

Holliman said he would like to see values raised only on the properties that have sold.

“It’s not right for 90 of us to have to pay because 10 sold their property,” he said. “Based on the 10% of the homes that have sold, charge them assessed value,” he suggested. “Leave the rest of us alone.”

Nuxoll explained repeatedly during the meeting that the assessor’s office needed to follow the law and appraise based on current market value. Although Holliman acknowledged the need to follow the law, he said he didn’t agree with it.

.— Norma Staaf, Idaho County Free Press (Grangeville), Wednesday