1% LOT to be on November ballot

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SANDPOINT — After a contentious debate, Sandpoint City Council voted Wednesday to place a 1% local option tax on the ballot in November.

The vote followed a debate over the project being rushed, the proposal’s wording, and selection of park and recreation projects that would be funded by the tax.

Residents weighed in on how funds gathered by the LOT would be spent by way of a survey. Sandpoint’s previous LOT funds to the War Memorial Field project. The tax sunset on Dec, 31, 2020.

The city received a record of 785 survey responses and public comment, said Jennifer Stapleton city administrator.

Now Mayor Shelby Rognstad and city officials are pushing for another LOT that will continue funding park and recreation projects.

Councilwoman Deb Ruehle questioned whether the survey led the voter in one direction or another to respond a certain way.

Councilwoman Shannon Sherman echoed Ruehle’s comments, saying it only mentioned parks and recreation projects instead of other options such as infrastructure. She pointed out the lack of sidewalks, especially near elementary school, the library and the senior center.

Stapleton said the reason for the push to approve the LOT for November's ballot would qualify the city to be competitive for infrastructure dollars coming from the federal level. To qualify for those projects, the city needs to have a designed shovel ready project.

Councilwoman Shannon Sherman said she had asked staff to consider using the tax to cover improvements to the city’s sidewalk network, including connectivity, particularly with respect to priority sidewalks.

“It's something that came up frequently when we [council] were reviewing the comments in the survey results,” she said.

The city only has a $50,000 budget this year for sidewalk improvements and connectivity. With the cost to implement sidewalks, that doesn’t go very far. Parks infrastructure is important, but she advocated for funding to go to sidewalks near the senior center, library and elementary schools, Sherman said.

Stapleton told the council that Sandpoint may receive infrastructure funds from the infrastructure bill that is currently in the U.S. Senate. The city only qualifies for these grant dollars and state funding if it has projects that are shovel ready, Stapleton said.

Sherman, Ruehle and Aispuro sought more time for public workshops and discussions before moving forward on the language. Councilman Andy Groat asked city staff to find a way to better inform the 15% of survey respondents who wanted more information on the tax.

“As Councilman Aispuro pointed out, what's the rush? Why are we in such a hurry?” asked Ruehle.

Ruehle said she did not feel prepared to debate the proposed LOT since the council had just received survey results less than an hour before the coyote council meeting.

“I'm struggling with council having to process this so rapidly in order to get on this particular billing cycle. I hope staff can explain this. I also felt the survey was in some ways very leading,” Ruehle said.

She wondered how the survey would have changed if, like Sherman had requested, there had been options for new and updated sidewalks on the survey rather than an exclusive park focus.

While the council could put the tax off until the next election cycle, Stapleton said that without shovel ready projects, Sandpoint could miss out on a large amount of infrastructure dollars that would be readily available.

Legal council advised the council that they had until Sept. 17 as a deadline to get the LOT on the ballot. The council members then went on to change the wording of the proposed LOT to accommodate the data gathered from the survey.

After compiling the data survey, city staff had prioritized the residents desires of the LOT funds to go towards City Beach, Travers/Centennial/Complex, Sand Creek Watershed Recreational Trails, Lakeview Park and War Memorial Field.

The new improvements identified were an ice skating rink at City Beach, improved/expanded pedestrian pathways and dog parks.

Of the survey takers the main consensus was a maximum of a seven-year tax. By the seventh year, Stapleton said, the city conservatively projects that it would collect $12,097,811.

With the Sept. 17 deadline, council pushed forward to rework the wording of the LOT.

After discussing options with the city attorney, the council agreed to a revised wording for the LOT.

The final decision was an emphasis in the maintenance and development of City Beach, Travers/ Centennial/Great Northern Complex, purchase of property for open space, parks and recreation; and to support implementation of the city’s pedestrian priority networks as identified in the 2021 adopted multimodal transportation plan.

The order of the projects on the proposed LOT have nothing to do with the amount of money these projects will receive nor the importance of one project over the other, Sherman said. She said she wanted it to be clear to the public that the language will be worded intentionally vague since the LOT is proposed for a seven-year period and the needs of the community will change over that time.

The council passed the 1% local option tax to put on the November ballot in a 4-1 vote. Ruehle voted against the decision and Councilman John Darling was absent.

In response to a Zoom observer that said that a looser, flexible plan sounded like a money grab, Aispuro said that, while he sympathized with the concern, he trusts the council to do what is best for the citizens.

“I do believe we'll make the best of decisions,” he said.

The proposed 1% local option tax will be on the November ballot.

To see the response to the survey

https://www.opentownhall.com/portals/287/Issue_11069/survey_responses

The next regular city council meeting will be held Wednesday Sept, 15 at 5:30 p.m. at Sandpoint City Hall. Future meetings and agendas will be posted on the city website.