Public Safety and Other Governement Vehicles

Now that gasoline is officially over the $4/gallon mark and headed to $5/gallon in parts of the country, THE GUARDIAN is wondering if the mindset of those spending our tax dollars have given any real thought to shedding all the behemoth vehicles used to keep government humming along as they come up for replacement.

The police car above is a mere suggestion to those budgeting our tax dollars. Other countries have had to adjust to gasoline prices far more than they are in this country years and years ago. We have to ask ourselves what the elected, appointed and other government agencies are doing to lessen the impact of energy costs on their transportation needs. We are in the budget season for most government agencies. Let's all hope some thought is given to vehicle maintenance and operating costs as fleets are replaced.

Caldwell Downtown Questions Need Answers From Elected Officials

The photo is of the Caldwell Police Station that remains mortgaged and we will continue to make payments on for the forseeable future. The argument for this was that it was needed to demonstrate to the outside world that we were willing to invest in our future as a city. (The cops did need a new place in the scheme of things.) The daylighting of Indian Creek as beautiful as it has turned out has not yet produced any significant economic activity in downtown Caldwell. And now we have the New City Hall Economic Stimulus Project before us at a yet undefined cost. We do have about $400,000.00 worth of studies collecting dust in the room none of us ever get to visit.

THE GUARDIAN attended the downtown revitalization meeting on the 29th of May and has some questions that aren't getting asked by people footing the bills, so here goes:

1. Do we really need a new city hall for Caldwell or could that money be spent on a project(s) that will actually create some economic activity.

2. Is this the best location for a city hall or will it simply remove prime commercial property from the tax rolls forever.

3. The Mayor and Mr. Cannon have thrown our job numbers that will be created from this "catalyst project" like they are manna from the heavens. This spring it was 1600 jobs now it is 700-800 new jobs for downtown Caldwell. Has anyone challenged the Mayor or Mr. Cannon on any data to support this stuff thrown out so casually as if it is FACT?

4. Parking! Does this city hall/retail complex meet the city requirements for parking schedules in city ordinances. The ordinance schedule at one time was one parking space for each 250 square feet. Has anyone put the measuring tape to this so that off street parking requirements are met and that the city is holding themselves to the same standards they hold other business owners for this project?

5. Will the location of the proposed Veterans Administration Clinic use up more prime tax generating property on the creek frontage and not generate a dime of tax revenue for the city? Good project to have downtown but not at the expense of commercial development in that location.

6. The "BOARDS AND COMMITTEES" all seem to be made up from the "A list" of Team Garrett's YES people. Is this just my observation or is it in fact a reality?

7. Are we trying to spend our way into prosperity when just this past week Vallejo, California filed for bankruptcy. A city of 130,000 people let their elected officials do this to their city. Plummeting real estate values and crushing debt created this mess for this bay area suburb.

8. Idaho tax revenues are plummeting and unemployment is up 10% from the last measurement to 5.5%. Not high by historical standards but add to that one in ten homes built since the year 2000 stands empty in this country and the banking fiasco not anywhere near the bottom. The dark clouds of recession are gathering momentum and we are not acting as a Community,or County in a fiscally responsible manner.

9. Ada County Courthouse was supposed to be a "free" deal for the taxpayers with the private public partnership. Retail was a flop and now Ada County gets to pay for the whole structure with property tax dollars. Does any of this hit a note with the elected politicos in Caldwell?

Think an appeal on your assessment will work, think again!

THE GUARDIAN learned from a local paper reporter there were 800 appeals to assessments on property valuations last year in Canyon County. The number of appeals that were approved ...30! Moral of the story is don't waste yours and their time.

It is a rigged program not in favor of the property owner. THE GUARDIAN feels like none of the assessments in his neighborhood reflect anywhere near what property can be sold for in the market today. Matters not to the Assessor and his data base that reflects last years sales data. Homes have been on the market for more than 400 days with no takers but the Assessor remains steadfast in the valuations that they are indeed correct.

So, suck it up all you proud homeowners and pay the piper. Your complaints will not garner much in the way of any changes to your new assessments. Thanks, to the state legislature, the stalwarts at the Assessors office and their new Manitron/PRO-VALUE software. Another method additionally used by the Assessor in leiu of physical appraisals is the use of overhead photos done by airplanes that capture photos of your property. All of this stuff is done behind a desk and on a computer for the most part. Your actual property value is at best a statistical guess.

Also heard from inside the walls at 1115 Albany Street is that the Manitron System used to determine the new and improved valuations is the very same system that caused all the ruckus on our 2007 property tax bills with the Traci Lloyd and the Treasurers Office. Also, the Commishes have shoved another Million dollars or so at the county IT Department and about $370,000 or so will go to Manitron to do fixes and patches on this boondoggle. We would all lilke to think the system would work according to "purchase specifications" and the necessary support would have come with the original deal. Seems we may have just purchased the DEMO and now Manitron is in the process of bleeding us taxpayers dry in more than one manner to get the system to work in the manner claimed by the supplier. (Does all this sound like a DILBERT comic strip or what?).

It will be interesting to see if the deciders at the legislature get enough blowback from constituents to actually move to a weight avearge on property assessments this next term. We all drank the Kool Aid on the last go around that was supposed to "lower our taxes" like the ads for Mr. Risch stated during the primary.

2008 ASSESSMENT NOTICES! HANG ONTO YOUR HAT!

THE GUARDIAN got his 2008 tax assessments today, the values on the several pieces of property I own went up between 30% to over 50%. Surely there had to be a mistake made on these valuations. No way can they be sold for the valuations on the notices in today's market.

A low carbon footprint trip on the trusty motorcycle to 1115 Albany Street was made to see just what exactly is going on with these valuations. Well, as it turns out, there were a number of people there equally mystified over the new and improved values of their properties. The Assessor's office was full of angry people and some just plain dumbfounded. I however, remained calm and asked the nice people to explain what happened.

It was explained the valuations on all properties for 2008 were determined based on sales data from January 1, 2007 until December 31,2007. The market was at an all time high for real estate valuations in this area. Now, the market has fallen and nothing is selling but we all get to enjoy the unrealistic 2007 values that translate to 2008 assessed valuations. It stinks, and the people working there know it stinks. They are following the law as written by our deciders at the state level.

We may see assessments fall next year based on this years downward sales data. However, by that time our politicos will have become addicted to all this new revenue and the values may go down a bit but the levy rates will stay high due to the budget driven nature of levy rates. All of our homes have big fat targets on the roof tops and all we can do is get used to all of this taxation and false valuations of our properties.

Bottom line is, they have us all over a barrel on property taxes and there is nothing we can do except complain and get no reasonable adjustments from the good people at the Assessor's Office due to our deciders at the state level. The only thing we can do is not voluntarily vote ourselves any kind of a tax increase (of any kind) for anything until this gets resolved. It is bad enough for people of working age but people on fixed incomes are going to be force out of their homes given all the increases in everything we have seen of late. And now this hideous and onerous burden that we pay or lose our homes to the highest bidder.

Somebody needs to explain a basic accounting principle to the people that make our laws: valuations are the lower of cost or market in the real accounting world. Too bad the state deciders can't figure this one out.

Another approach to assessments would be to use a rolling weighted 5 year average valuations. Each year 20% of the first year drops off and 20% of the 5th year is used in a rolling 5 year average. Nobody gets blindsided and the rolls stay up to par with market values. None of this sock it to the homeowner. What we have now just is not right and they all know it.

Citizen Lawsuit Against Commises Has Court Date

THE GUARDIAN has learned that the first court date to hear what citizens have to say to Third Judicial District Judge Renae Hoff is scheduled for June 4th at 2:30 PM.

The people filing have alleged the Commishes are in violation of Judicial Confirmation Laws as well as the Idaho Constitution. All of this stems from the standing issue granted to everyone when another group filed suit against the Jerome property purchase. With the "standing" issue clarified by the Supreme's the Commishes are now open to legal challenges when they cross the line on how they spend taxpayer dollars.

The case is pretty simple. Did the Commishes willfully circumvent Judicial Confirmation law when the bought more jail property out on Hwy 20/26. And did they incur a liability that goes beyond one budget cycle, a violation of the Idaho Constitution Article 8 section 3.

Add to to the above another issue of the Job Service building bid that looks equally doubtful if it will get done this budget year.

It will be interesting to see if the people moving this lawsuit forward can gain traction with the court. It looks like the Baby Boomers more recently turning into Gray Panthers as they move to retirement are on the prod once again against the "establishment".

Court of Public Opinion Opens May 27th

The Court of Public Opinion will hold a session tomorrow called ELECTION DAY!

The voters of Canyon County have an opportunity to make some changes or maintain the status quo at 1115 Albany. It is predicted this will be a low voter turnout election. Only those with feelings and opinions about the issues and candidates will make the effort to show up and cast their vote.

Wednesday morning we will all know if we have made any changes to our Representative Republic form of county government here in Canyon County and if we get some fresh new faces and thinking on how to deal with all the problems and opportunities. THE GUARDIAN does not make endorsements of candidates but hopes that the public recognizes the dire need for some changes in management on the first floor of the courthouse.

Spending huge sums of tax dollars in the manner they have been the past few years without any voting by the public has been very bad form on the part of the Commissioners. The Jail properties purchased and one not yet sold is very troubling. The jail fiasco two times around, the Supreme Court Lawsuit and they can't understand that we want to weigh in (reads vote up or down) on how our money is spent is a problem. The Job Service building purchase and yankng the rug out from under Vallivue School District was underhanded (even if deemed to be legal). Having to get our information from a "talking head" and not directly from the people we elected to stand up a speak for themselves is a problem, not to say an unnecessary expense of our tax dollars. The inablity of the Commissioners to make public records open to the public all the time is an issue. Too many Executive sessions some actually illegal and far too many in the room we never get to see or hear what actually happens behind the closed doors. The Marc Young year long administrative leave mess paid by the taxpayers and accural of vacation while he was on paid administrative leave are more than a little bit troubling. The current cash flow issues that are starting to surface and openly talked about by people working at the courthouse. The outside audit comments about spending monies from the general fund and justice funds that have to be reconciled. The list goes on and on.

All of the above is cause for voter concern and needs to be corrected or ratified in the election process tomorrow. Pick your candidates wisely or we put up with more of the same inept management of our tax dollars.

County Cash Crunch, Job Service Building and No Sale on Jerome Property

It has been reported to THE GUARDIAN the cash flow issues at the county are compounding like interest on a bad debt by the day. The loan sharks may be circling the courthouse. The latest is that they do not have the money to close on the much vaunted purchase of the Job Service building nor is the Jerome property sale expected to close.

Reason number one is they can't seem to close the deal on the Jerome Property with their buyer for the $3.8 Million offered on this deal. The closing of the deal has been set back at least twice in less than a month. Seems the buyer is in foreclosure on a house he bought last year and took out a second and third deed of trust to get the money for the earnest money deposit for the Jerome Property (reads house of cards). It has also been reported to THE GUARDIAN that the unnamed buyer has Action Collection after him as well. Their buyer's credit rating has to be very circumspect at this juncture.

Add to all of this a Vallivue administrator is now telling people that the Vallivue School District had a written earnest money agreement with the State on the Job Service building. The 2C County Deciders started a verbal bidding war with Vallivue and the State people. The Vallivue admin crew still can't figure out exactly what happened when they had a earnest money contract. The State and County Deciders pulled off a fast one. The County Deciders had no written agreement with the state people for the job service building. However, they did have several appraisals that they could pick and choose from to make a legal bid on the property.

Currently, the County does not have the cash to buy the Job Service Building this year given the cash crunch they have created for all of us. Buying jail property, not selling the Jerome property and other things that have created a fiscal nightmare at 1115 Albany Street.

It almost sounds like Job Service property deal have created a liability this year that will have to be paid off next FY. (Could this be yet another violation of the Idaho Constitution Article 8 sec.3 and another citizen lawsuit in the wings.)

Sweet promises from the County Deciders talked too loud when the gavel fell on the sale of the Job Service property. Education efforts at redirecting salvageable teens gets a setback dealt to them by both the state and our 2C Deciders. We all have to be very proud of how our 2C Deciders "saved money" for us on this deal.

With all of the financial mistakes this year the mantra for the Commishes can be summed up: Buy high, sell low, collect late, and we pay when you catch us. They really do need to take some classes in Financial Managment at the CEO/Decider level at the county.

Maybe the State can call in a collection service to get their money from the county?

County In Cash Flow Crunch

It has been reported to THE GUARDIAN the County Commishes have proven once again that you can't spend your way into prosperity. The latest info to hit my phone wires and email is that the County Deciders have adopted the "buy high and pay late" strategy to get through the most recent cash crunch.

They are holding up employee reimbursements for mileage and expense as long as they dare. They may have crossed the line with some of the employees who have waited several weeks for their reimbursments. The rumor on the street is that it amount to over $50,000.00 held up in payments to employees and accounts payable.

It will be interesting to hear what they have to say if pressed by the media for answers to this deal

Are Commishes Abusing Executive Sessions?

THE GUARDIAN is getting a lot of phone traffic on the Commishes and abuse of Executive Sessions. In order to get the definitive version of when Executive Sessions are authorized I went to the Idaho Attorney Generals website and looked over Idaho Code 67-2345.

The latest flurry of criticism on the County Deciders abusing executive sessions stems from two issues. First, it was deemed OK to keep all the stuff about Marc Young under wraps because it was a personnel matter. How then is it OK to talk on the record about Mr. Bill Hurst when he was a private employee of the county when he did the audit of the outgoing sheriff. Second issue, is on the front page of the IPT about ICRMP and the jail issues. The Comishes went into an Executive Session to discuss possible liability issues and a plan (decided to build a new jail with no voter authorization of inputs) to circumvent any issues ICRMP may have with the county lockup.

Idaho 67-2345(j) Executive Sessions-- When Authorized, reads as follows: "To engage in communications with a representative of the public agency's risk manager or insurance provider to discuss adjustment of a pending claim or prevention of a claim imminently likely to be filed. The mere presence of a representative of the public agency's risk manager or insurance provider at an executive session does not satisfy this requirement." (See editor note below)

The Commishes violated public meeting law 67-2345 both before the modification in 2007 and after that modification. How long are they going to get to spin this stuff with the press and the media. A verbal discussiion with someone does not constitute immenient legal action.

Why was an executive session required to discuss a plan of compliance (in the absence of a claim) in 2006 and now alright to openly discuss the executive session in the local paper today? Has anyone else fixated on this or even care about open and transparent government?

Our Commishes continue to get away with this behavior in Canyon County and the Ada County Commishes get cited virtually every time they cross the line on public meeting law violations? The Ada County Deciders are hauled up before the court of public opinion as well as the legal system and in front of the bright lights and cameras for all to see and review what went on. Canyon County remains silent and numb to these constant Executive sessions.

Short answer on all of this is the Election and the jail getting done with no voter input and Commishes in a defensive posture before this election.

Editor note 5-23-08: Section (j) of Idaho 67-245 was added July 1, 2007 via SB 1085. A thorough read of the provisions of 67-245 before the changes and after support that the commishes were in violation of the public meeting laws. 67-245(j) was added so that they could in fact have a discussion with their risk management provider subject to pending legal actions. It was added as clarification in 2007. The violation of personnel manual and privacy of Mr. Hurst by Mr. Ferdinand does remain troubling. Maybe a years paid leave of absence will make things right for Mr Hurst given the unrighteous outburst by Mr. Ferdinand in this weeks IPT guest opinion/letter.

Downtown Redevelopment Land Prices

THE GUARDIAN attended the public meeting on the Library project for their downtown revitalization in Nampa. The City of Nampa has nailed down land for half a city block at $35/square foot or $1.6MM for roughly 45,000 square feet of land. The other half of the block where a church is the main occupant, the price may be as much as $65/square foot.

All of this points out one of the main reasons for urban blight. The cost of land, demolition and improvements. Price levels for property can be an obstacle when working with a finite amount of capital. The hurdle of obtaining land at a reasonable cost can put a project out of the scope of profitability. It also explains why government is the main developer of blighted properties in downtown locations. They have the means to extract money from the public via taxation to pay for property considered not worth the effort to most folks in the private sector development arena.

Dirt is still too cheap outside of most downtown core areas to make urban renewal a practical reality for most private developers. Hence, we move forward into the new century with urban sprawl and no substantial renewal of used up buildings and the thoughts of "sustainable communities" in most downtown's of America.

Finally, with all the apparent public support for a new library in downtown Nampa why are the City Deciders not allowing the people of Nampa to vote a bond election for their new library. It simply does not add up if the public support is already there, a bond election for this project would seem a fairly straight forward proposition. The Nampa LIbrary project could have been a done deal during next weeks primary election on the 27th of May.