Citizen Letter to Comm. Pam White

The Guardian received this letter today from Guardian reader Mr. Bob Gaddis.  It was sent to Comm. Pam White on 1/10/18 as a response to the Friday, January 5th, meeting with the DLR Group in the Commissioners Meeting Room:

January 10, 2018

Good afternoon Pam,

Last Friday in the meeting on the proposed jail you felt the need to comment when I shook my head in response to your plan to add a local option sales tax.  Perhaps I can explain my position.

Whether you call it a tax, a fee or a bond all that money comes out of one pocket and that pocket is about empty. If that option tax was passed, not only would we have some of the highest property taxes in the State of Idaho, we would also have the highest sales tax in the State.  Apparently no thought was given to the long term effects of these choices.

I have lost several investors over the last few years when they realized what property taxes are in Nampa, Idaho. In the recent past, one investor who already owns 18 units in Nampa, was seriously looking at purchasing 3 and possibly 4 fourplex units that your husband Steve was developing behind Karcher Mall.  When he realized what the taxes were, he invested in Ogden, Utah.  He figured he will clear on the order of $1,500/month ($18000 a year) more in Ogden than he would in Nampa due to high property taxation. (I have lost several other investors for the same reason.)

Earlier today I was told by an employee of Cost Plus in the Nampa Marketplace, the reason they are closing is because of a large increase in their rent.  Additionally, there are 7 other Nampa Marketplace tenants who will be leaving in the next 2 years due to increased rent due to higher property taxes passed through to the renters of these businesses..

My friend Ron Harriman did a comparison on property taxes on the Kohl's store in Nampa and the one in Meridian, both stores are identical.  If I remember correctly the Meridian store was half the property taxes as the one in Nampa.  We are already buried by taxes that brought us the Idaho Center, the police station, the library and all the taxes siphoned away by Urban Renewal Districts in Nampa and Caldwell.  There are many other rat holes that we will have to continue to pay for over many years to come with property tax dollars.

While I agree there is a need for some changes in the number of jail beds and the space needed to accommodate them in our Canyon County Jail. However, the direction both you and Comm. Tom Dale are trying to take us will not be accepted by taxpayers.  If a bare-bones addition to the current jail built to meet both the current needs and possibly for the next 10 years also added on at the same time I would support it.

If you want to contact me please do so.

Regards,
Bob Gaddis