It Gets Lonely Voting No...

…But I will continue to do so because it is the right thing to do. For example, I voted against the Community Planning Association of Southwest Idaho’s Legislative agenda, which included:

“1. Transportation Revenue
The COMPASS Board of Directors strongly supports increasing and diversifying dedicated revenue for state and local transportation systems, including transit and alternative transportation modes…

“2. Local Option Tax Authority Legislation
The COMPASS Board of Directors strongly supports general local option sales tax authority legislation. Such a tool will provide local units of government the ability to request necessary supplemental infrastructure revenue from citizens through a local option sales tax…

“3. Fifth Year Funding Approval of GARVEE Bonding Program
The COMPASS Board of Directors strongly supports continuation of the Idaho Transportation Board’s proposed GARVEE-related project and funding package…

“4. Transportation Access Plan Legislation
The COMPASS Board of Directors strongly supports legislation providing a mechanism for the Idaho Transportation Department Board, in cooperation with local planning entities, to define the access control standards for a given
highway corridor…

“5. Inattentive Driving Legislation
The COMPASS Board of Directors strongly supports legislation banning or restricting text messaging and cell phone use while driving a motor vehicle. Such legislation will address inattentive drivers using electronic communication devices who present a significant safety issue for other motorists, pedestrians, and bicyclists….”

It seems the COMPASS Board, made up of county commissioners, city councilors and highway district commissioners from Ada and Canyon Counties, is intent upon finding new ways to raise taxes. I often find myself in the uncomfortable position of being the only Board member to vote no, because I believe it is the right thing to do, particularly in light of the current state of the economy.

I am not anti-government, and I recognize that government needs revenue in order to provide services; however, particularly during an economic crisis such as we are facing in this county, state and country today, now is not the time to figure out more ways to extract money from taxpayers. We taxpayers are better able to decide how to utilize those dollars, ourselves.

Now is the time for government to tighten its belt and feel the pain that everyone else is feeling due to the high unemployment rate and massive recession.

To clarify: I have no problem with the concept of local option taxes – the ability of local government to ask voters whether to tax themselves – for any reason, but with one caveat: local option taxing authority should be added to the constitution and require a two-thirds (2/3) majority vote to pass. Why the constitution? State code is relatively easily changed during any given legislative session. Putting local option taxing authority – with the accompanying 2/3 requirement – into the constitution, will make it unlikely the supermajority voting requirement would be watered down anytime in the near future.

Why do I believe a 2/3 vote should be required? Because if government wants to stick its hand into your pockets and mine and take our money from us, then someone had better be able to make a compelling enough argument to do so to 2/3 of voters that the reason for increasing government revenue is worthwhile.

As far as item number 5 on the COMPASS agenda regarding additional inattentive driving legislation, even Ada County Sheriff Gary Raney said on Tuesday that he is opposed to the concept because we already have adequate inattentive driving laws on the books.

Legislative Action Agenda

The Idaho Legislature convened at noon last Monday. There are a number of issues affecting Ada County and other Idaho residents that I hope we can get addressed this session. Some of these issues include:

• Urban Renewal Reform. While urban renewal might sound good on the surface, and was surely authorized by the legislature with the best of intention, the use of urban renewal is out of control. Urban renewal and the accompanying tax increment financing costs taxpayers, benefits the few, and has spread way beyond what I believe was its original intention as a tool to assist in the cleanup of urban blight. It’s high time for massive urban renewal law reform.

• Medical Indigency Reform. Buried in his budget proposal for FY 2010, Governor Butch Otter pushed for a $6.2 million property tax increase by proposing to increase the counties' portion of medical bill payments for people who are indigent. Counties are considered the “payer of last resort” for people who are found to be medically indigent or, in other words, unable to pay off their medical bills over a five-year period of time. Payments are made by the counties to the medical providers at the Medicaid rate. Until last year, counties were responsible for paying up to the first $10,000 for any given patient. Governor Otter pushed for a $5000 increase to a $15,000 maximum payment per patient per year, which would have amounted to a $1.25 million property tax increase for Ada County residents. The legislature compromised, settling on a maximum of $11,000 from the counties per patient per year. In addition, the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare is now (theoretically, since nothing is in place yet) responsible for determining Medicaid eligibility and contracting for viewing bills, determining their accuracy, determining the medical necessity of services provided and attempting to determine whether other resources are available to pay the bills. Ada County already has a process and professional staff in place to perform these services, although most other counties do not. Once the state does have this process in place, a fee will be charged back to each of the counties for this new service. Nonetheless, our property taxpayers are now footing the bill for the increased cost to the counties which would have been even higher if Governor Otter had succeeded in his efforts to increase property taxpayers’ share of these payments. I am now working with Idaho State University, the state’s health sciences university, to try to make affordable preventative clinical services available to low income clientele in an effort to get folks to take personal responsibility for their own health maintenance and avoid costly emergency room visits.

• Annexation reform. People should be able to vote before they are annexed. Otherwise, the act of annexation by a City Council and Mayor who were not elected by the affected parties, amounts to taxation without representation.

• Membership of county Planning and Zoning Commissions. While I applaud the intent of Idaho law to ensure representation from different parts of the county – inside city limits, outside city limits but within areas of city impact, and outside of both cities and areas of city impact – it is becoming increasingly difficult in Ada County to find people who live in the latter category. I would like to see the authority for determining the appropriate makeup of the Planning and Zoning Commission granted to the Boards of County Commissioners, who are ultimately responsible for all development decisions within the counties anyway.

• Property Tax Reform. A simple start to addressing this issue would be to allow county assessors to provide a single value – land and improvement value combined – rather than having to provide a breakout of the two values on assessment notices. At Board of Equalization hearings last summer, where we heard from people who felt their property values were set too high or too low, there was a significant amount of anger and confusion caused by having two separate values. It also causes unnecessary work for the appraisers, who struggle to determine fair market values, as required by law.

• Nuisance Weeds. Current Idaho law allows our Weed Department to go out and eradicate noxious weeds and bill the property owner for the service. If the property owner refuses to pay, the county is able to place a lien on the property and eventually collect. We need to have the same type of mechanism in place to address nuisance weeds, which are cropping up all over the county, particularly at abandoned houses that are in foreclosure.

• Horse Racing Regulations. Horse racing has got to be one of the most overregulated industries in the State of Idaho. Current Idaho law requires an agreement between facility operators and the Horsemen’s Benevolent Protective Association – and it can ONLY be with that particular group - before a live racing license will be issued by the Idaho Racing Commission. A live license is required in order to qualify for a simulcast license. Live racing loses money. Simulcast racing makes money. The requirement for a minimum of 46-days of live racing for facilities at which the handle exceeds $5 million affects only Idaho Downs, previously known as Les Bois Park, puts a stranglehold on the ability of business people to make good business decisions with regard to live horse racing in Idaho. There would be horse racing in Ada County today if an agreement with one particular horse racing owners’ group was not required, and if 46 days of live racing were no longer mandated.

These are just a smattering of issues that are in dire need of intervention by the Idaho Legislature, hopefully sooner rather than later. If you are interested in working on any of these issues with me, please contact me at sharonu@adaweb.net or 287-7001. Thank you!

Idaho Governor's Ball Musings

Saturday evening’s Governor’s Ball, a Republican Party fundraiser, was well attended and, despite my nearly two decades of political involvement, there were a lot of newcomers in attendance. It’s always nice to see old friends, but welcoming new ones is rewarding, as well.

Of note were the many beautiful clothes, including dark suits, tuxes and ball gowns that sparkled around the festive room. It got me thinking, though, about how much money was spent on all those beautiful clothes. Perhaps in the future, the Republican Party should encourage people to shop for Governor’s Ball attire at local thrift and second-hand clothing stores, and donate the money they save to the Party or another charitable community cause. Surely the Salvation Army, Idaho Youth Ranch, Goodwill Industries, St Vincent De Paul, Deseret Industries and other charitable organizations would happily benefit from the added sales. To make things even more interesting, the Ball itself could include a “costume” contest, to determine which attendees had done the best job of securing suitable duds at a substantial savings.

Quake Effects

Effects of Saturday’s earthquake off the Northern California coast seem to have made it all the way to Canyon County. On Saturday afternoon, admittedly at the last minute, I was at the shiny new Macy’s in Nampa trying to find just the right accessories to go with my outfit for that evening’s Idaho Governor’s Ball.

I was chatting on my cell phone with a friend and ended the call right around 4:27 p.m., at which time I asked the saleswoman for assistance. As we made our way through the department, quite suddenly and unexpectedly, a purse on a table several yards in front of us fell spontaneously to the floor. No one had been touching the purses or had even been in the area recently.

I made a comment to the saleswoman to the effect of, “Wow! That was odd. I hope it doesn’t mean we’re having an earthquake!” Unbeknownst to us was the fact that right then a 6.5-magnitude earthquake was occurring in the vicinity of Humboldt County, California, some 400 or more miles away. It drives home the idea that we really are all in this together. Best wishes to those affected by the quake for a quick and relatively easy cleanup and recovery.

Happy Orange and Blue Year!

What a way to ring in the new year! First, our Idaho Vandals’ came through with a terrific victory in the Humanitarian Bowl, held here in Boise, followed by our hometown Boise State Broncos’ football team’s upset victory over TCU in the Fiesta Bowl! Congratulations to everyone involved with both Idaho programs. You’re a class act!
There is much to tell about what has been going on in county government, but things haven’t slowed down enough to take the time to write about it all, so here are a few of the highlights:

• We’re saving you more money. I was concerned about collect telephone call charges we were paying to the State of Idaho for the Public Defender’s Office to talk with state prison inmates. After meeting with Idaho Department of Corrections Director Brent Reinke, we have now gotten word that the county (and similar public entities) will no longer be charged these collect call fees. Savings to Ada County taxpayers will be somewhere between $650 and $900 a month.

• I now have in my possession a copy of a letter from a candidate for Vice President of Local 149 that confirms what we already knew intuitively: the fire union is behind the strong push by the Boise Fire Department to take over ambulance transport services. Our motivation is a lot different from that of the union. As our mission states, at Ada County Paramedics, we want to, “Provide an innovative, effective and efficient Emergency Medical Services System to safeguard and enhance the health and quality of life of those we serve.”

• We’re ensuring openness in government. Last week, my colleagues and I withheld approval of an agreement between Ada County and the Idaho Bureau of Homeland Security for a radio system master site until we could get assurance that future meetings of the Statewide Interoperability Executive Council (SIEC) and its subcommittees would all be open and that when and if it became necessary to sign a confidentiality agreement, it would be narrowly construed. Our concerns stemmed from a December 17 meeting of the SIEC’s governance subcommittee that was unnecessarily held behind closed doors. Yesterday, I received a written commitment on these issues from Colonel Bill Shawver, the Director of the Idaho Bureau of Homeland Security. He wrote, in part, “You have my word that all meetings will be in accordance with all applicable laws and policy. Openness is vital to public trust and the creditability (sic) of the agencies and bodies administering government services.”

The new year is off to a terrific start for local football fans and Ada County taxpayers alike. Let’s hope we score a victory in economic recovery for Idaho residents in 2010 as well.