Property tax help needed

Mike Moyle and the Lewiston Tribune seem to be in a spat. Speaker Mike Moyle wants credit for the Band-Aid the Idaho Legislature passed on property taxes while the Tribune editorial board sees it as too little too late.

You can put me firmly in the latter camp. While Moyle was not around in 2006 when the single cent sales tax increase shifted school funding he sure refuses to acknowledge its impacts. Heck, he seems to think state laws don’t impact local funding at all. Well, until they ban certain election dates for school bonds or levies.

Instead, most of the fire is directed at local governments, which can’t access state funds unless Moyle and the Legislature say they can.

One other fact to consider, and perhaps the most important: In 1980, residential property taxes made up half of the state’s property tax budget. Today, residential is eclipsing 75%. The horror stories of people seeing their house’s values rise by hundreds of thousands of dollars are true. It used to be residential owners had some protection via the Homestead Exemption being indexed to inflation, but that was done away with several years ago in exchange for a slightly higher exemption. It has not kept up with inflation.

As a result, renters and homeowners pay far more in property taxes than they likely should. Ultimately, this is a subsidy for businesses, including small businesses. Supporting businesses is great, but not at the cost of the American dream.

Gabriel Iacoboni

Lewiston

CHS contributors shown

Washington’s Public Disclosure Commission shows contributors to this spring’s failed campaign for a roughly $80 million bond to build a new Clarkston High School.

l The two “Yes CHS” campaign administrators: $1,450 (about 4%) of the more than $39,900 campaign funds reported to the PDC.

l The architect the board hired to design the school, to influence his meal ticket: $2,500 or 6% of the total.

l Clarkston Teachers Association and the district superintendent and his wife: $2,000 (about 5% of the funds raised). The superintendent wanted a successful new school bond on his resume when he moves on to the next community.

l Pathologists’ Regional Laboratory contributed $2,000 (another roughly 5% of the total raised).

l Four Lewiston businesses: $10,000 or about 25%, led by Schweitzer Engineering Laboratory’s $5,000 (about 12%), along with St. Joseph Regional Medical Center and Catalyst Medical Group at $2,500 each (about 6% each).

l Six Clarkston businesses donated a total of $12,000 or about 30%, led by Arnone LLC’s $5,000 (about 12%) and Stonebraker McQuary’s $3,500 (about 9%).

l Clarkston Firefighters Local 2299: $500.

l 63 individual contributions from $5 to $600 account for the rest.

So a total of 79 individuals/entities contributed to the campaign to put a roughly $80 million, 25-year tax burden on the roughly 9,000 people in Clarkston.

That the bond failed shouldn’t be surprising. CHS student enrollment hasn’t increased in a decade. Roughly 57% of the district’s students reportedly qualify for the free-lunch program.

Do the school board and “Yes CHS” intend to try again? Reportedly, yes.

Rick Rogers

Clarkston

Ignoring libraries’ benefits

Since an anti-library bill (House Bill 314) failed in the Idaho Legislature, people across the state are attempting to control, not only public libraries, but the Idaho people as well.

While ranting about safety, they ignore the unlimited benefits of public libraries ... . Nowhere else can you go to borrow any book ever published, completely free, through interlibrary loan; can you borrow a computer if yours can’t do the job; can you have such endless information in one building.

While a minority of Idahoans attack libraries, the majority of our legislators do. Bill 314 passed both chambers of the Idaho Legislature and was vetoed by Gov. Brad Little. Without the actions of our governor, the ability to sue for at least $2,500 guaranteed by this law could have destroyed any library. When a similar bill arises again, it will pass, causing libraries to fall like dominoes in its wake.

It is always important to be aware of your elected officials and what they are really doing for you. Are they taking away your voice by disguising undemocratic laws as “protection?” The Constitution states that “no state shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges and immunities of citizens.” Your knowledge as a voter decides whether the Idaho people maintain their constitutional rights or lose them.

Local legislators who voted yes on HB 314: Sen. Daniel Foreman and Rep. Brandon Mitchell (District 6); Sen. Cindy Carlson, Rep. Mike Kings-ley and Rep. Charlie Shepherd (District 7).

Mason DuBois

Buhl, Idaho