County Jail Site On Sale at Half Price

We learn today Canyon County Commishes have decided to put property they purchased for a jail out of town on Hwy 20/26 on the auction block with a starting bid of $1.1 million.  County Commissioners originally paid $2 million for the property they designated as a jail site. 

Three bond issues have failed in their quest to build a new jail and now they want to get the property back on the tax rolls generating revenue for all the taxing districts impacted when they bought and removed the property from taxation.  The sole dissenting voice is the Canyon County Sheriff, Kieran Donahue.

Here's a link to the article in the local paper regarding the property auction:
http://www.idahopress.com/members/sheriff-opposes-county-land-sale/article_0b37b146-e079-11e2-a6a9-001a4bcf887a.html

Property Tax Comparison In Treasure Valley Cities

Our friend, Ron Harriman wrote a very good OP-ED piece in the IPT today.  There is a link below to read the whole piece by Mr. Harriman.  I am giving GUARDIAN readers the table of tax comparisons compiled for your review.  You can draw your own conclusions from the article and the data.

Property taxes in Treasure Valley cities

City           Property taxes   Populations   Per capita     Per household

Boise         $112,383,000.00    212,303    $529.35      $1,397.49

Meridian    $20,544,000.00      80,386      $255.57      $725.81

Nampa      $31,630,265.00      83930      $376.86       $1,104.21

Caldwell    $12,824,323.00     47,665      $269.05       $774.87

Here's a link to the IPT Guest Opinion by Mr. Harriman:
http://www.idahopress.com/members/dale-has-it-wrong-on-high-property-taxes-in-nampa/article_bcba3ea4-df87-11e2-970e-0019bb2963f4.html

Ron Harriman is a real estate appraiser in Nampa.

Caldwell and Nampa Chambers of Commerce to "Study" Fair Move Out of Town

THE GUARDIAN has followed the County Fair announcement they will be moving out of town with interest.  Today in the local paper we see the Chambers of Commerce from Caldwell and Nampa are now going to "study" this move. 

The short version of the study will no doubt conclude the move will be bad for both Caldwell and Nampa.  In the case of Caldwell the impact in pretty obvious but Nampa not so obvious.  Moving the County Fair out of Caldwell is a subtle move to create a Horse Park at taxpayer expense despite the claims by the Fair people they need room to grow.  THE GUARDIAN has reviewed the master plan in detail and it is clear the Fair will be a secondary venue for the new site. 

Nampa is struggling to balance the books at the Idaho Center and the best they can come up with financially is a $1-2 million subsidy by Nampa taxpayers to keep the doors open.  They have a huge white elephant on their hands and the creation of a new Horse Park under the guise of a new fair grounds will only exacerbate the revenue situation at the Idaho Center.  Taxpayers will be on the hook for more cash to keep the doors open when the new fair site opens.

Additionally, our new County Commish, Craig Hanson has made his feelings on the know buy poking a lot of folks in the eye with his comments on the move.  Something this politically charged and he has come out in full support of the move by the Fair Board.

Here's a link to the IPT story on the fair move out of town:
http://www.idahopress.com/members/nampa-caldwell-chambers-to-examine-fair-move/article_caf63064-dfae-11e2-909e-001a4bcf887a.html

People of Caldwell to Decide King's Building Future Use

It has been reported to THE GUARDIAN Mayor Nancolas is going to let the people of Caldwell decide the future use of the King's property in downtown.

Caldwell East Urban Renewal bought the property from the Salvation Army for a reported $230,000.  Prior to the purchase a citizens committee put together a plan with architectural renderings as well as cost estimates to turn this piece of blight into a central plaza.  Eljay Waite, Director of CEURA stated there were no plans for the property.  When questioned by several downtown business owners Mayor Nancolas stated he was going to let the citizens decided what will be the fate of this property.

THE GUARDIAN has learned there is a petition circulating via downtown business people to move the plaza idea forward. It will be presented to the Caldwell City Council in the near term, probably this month or next month barring any decisions made by the URA before the petition is submitted.

Low Water Year and Ongoing Wind Expenses Equal 15.3% Idaho Power Rate Increase

We got this post from David R. Frazier aka, Boise Guardian

The Idaho Public Utilities Commission has authorized Idaho Power to bump power rates with an average hike of 15.3% due to low water levels.
About 70% of all water in the West comes from snow pack and this year’s low levels are already putting a crimp on everything from fish to power generators.

Here’s how the PUC explained the situation in a press release:

Declining water, reduced revenue from surplus energy sales and ongoing wind power expenses all contributed to a $140 million Power Cost Adjustment, the fourth highest in PCA history. To make up for the shortfall caused by these factors, Idaho Power Company’s residential customers will be assessed a one-year surcharge of an average 12.5 percent effective June 1. For all customers classes combined, the average increase is 15.3 percent.
 
None of the money collected in the surcharge can be used to increase Idaho Power earnings or salaries, but is kept in a deferred account, audited by the commission, to be used only for paying extraordinary power supply expense. While base rates cover fixed costs, the PCA, adjusted every June 1, covers costs that vary from year to year, and are largely outside the company’s control. These costs are related largely to water levels, gas and fuel expense, transportation expense and renewable power contracts for projects mandated by federal law. 

In six of the last 11 years, the PCA has been a decrease or no change, but this year’s is the fourth highest on record due largely to a 19 percent reduction in water the company uses to power its hydroelectric plants.

TVCC Wants Urban Renewal to Fund a $20k Sign.

The following is taken from the Caldwell East Urban Renewal Agency monthly minutes, May 2013 meeting:

 

"#4 Consider TVCC Marketing Request

Chairman Waite presented a request from TVCC for approval to use their marketing funds of

$20,000 for the purchase and installation of a sign on Blaine Street. Discussion ensued with the

salient points being:

o Signage at that location should be a marketing tool and include reader board capabilities

for college events.

o $20,000 in marketing funds could be used to directly increase student enrollment.

o Signage for the TVCC building could be a URA project and utilized for marketing both

college and community events.

o Reviewing TVCC’s current marketing plan and potentially partnering with them in

further development of a plan to utilize future marketing dollars was suggested.

Chairman Waite noted that TVCC’s student enrollment is meeting projections and their growth

is on target. Dr. Kathleen Robinson will be invited to the June meeting to provide more

information to URA commissioners"

The main questions about TVCC are:
1. Who asked Caldwell taxpayers to fund this project?
2.  Why are Caldwell taxpayers now asked to fund a $20K sign for out of state TVCC?
3.  Why are Caldwell taxpayers funding a redundant community college effort to College of Western Idaho that won overwhelming support in an election process?
4.  What education void does TVCC fill that isn't already filled by CWI?

THE GUARDIAN won't even attempt to answer the above questions but the multimillion dollar support of TVCC from Caldwell taxpayers is a troubling issue when you factor in Caldwell property owners are getting a double whammy of taxation for local community college efforts.

 

It's OK to Rejoice Again Caldwell

Once again we read and hear about all there is to be happy about with downtown Caldwell and our community.  We can have this for only another $65,000 when Roger Brooks comes back to town with yet more ideation and a plan to cure Caldwell's civic problems.

The latest idea for Caldwell is to make it a "tourist destination" and Mr. Brooks will help create yet another plan for a better future for Caldwell.  THE GUARDIAN has lived in Caldwell since the 1970's and witnessed the downward spiral of downtown in the face of several other plans that come to mind:  First, there was the RUDAT Study done in the early 1990's at a cost of $25,000.  Next we have had the Tom Hudson study for about $10,000, then we had the Dave Leland Report for a mere $140,000, then Oppenheimer Development for a starting price of $50,000 (and more), then the Master Framework Study with the help and inputs of Caldwell concerned citizens.

Now we have Roger Brooks who came to town for $30,000 to start via the sponsorship of the Caldwell Chamber of Commerce.  Mr. Brooks got the good chamber members all fired up and feeling good.  Now there is a fund drive to bring Mr. Brooks back at the cost of an additional $65,000.  All this will be done with private money and contributions from the good people of Caldwell.  The Mayor and City Council are sitting on the sidelines in this effort.

It's OK to Rejoice Again Caldwell!  However, here's the reality; we have lots of studies in the file cabinets collecting dust for the lack of "political will" and funding from our Mayor and City Council.  Yes, we have a redundant TVCC annex funded by Caldwell citizens and yes we have a nice five block addition to the park system via Indian Creek.  What we lack in downtown Caldwell is a reason for our people to spend time an money in our downtown core. 

Mr. Brooks will no doubt make the people paying his fee feel very good but it will take public funds (urban renewal money) and political will to make anything meaningful happen in downtown.  Until then we will have another report full of pretty pictures and proclamations to take up space in a file cabinet. But there will be much rejoicing upon the return of Mr. Brooks to Caldwell.

Note of clarification..  CEURA will sunset on taking out additional bonding December 2014.  All the cash will still flow to the agency but they will send a cash windfall of property taxes to all the taxing districts that gave up their share of property tax money until December 2014.  Caldwell will have something north of $1MM/year flowing to the city coffers not dedicated to paying off revenue bonds.  The question is; what will they do with the money.  Downtown did not see much in the way of "renewal".  Perhaps it may be time to invest those funds in building community with what little cash left in the URA scheme.

How Much Debt Via Nampa URA Is Enough?

The following is a guest opinion by Guardian reader, Kim Blough, Nampa Idaho.  May 7, 2013

Since 1994, Nampa City Hall’s mantra has been “Tax ,Tax ,Tax, Borrow, Borrow, Borrow and SPEND SPEND SPEND”.

The result?  Urban Renewal spending and debt of $192,000,000.

 What did we get for our money you ask?  Here are examples of how effectively our tax dollars were (or are about to be) spent.

Urban Renewal tax dollars paid $1,891,815.23 for a 17 acre parcel of bare land which was at the time tax appraised for $13,500.

That’s right…$100,000 per acre for land which tax appraised for $796.00 per acre.

What “willing seller” would say NO to a “willing buyer’s” offer of 125 times more than the assessed tax value!

Just to sweeten the deal and make sure the Seller wouldn’t say NO to such a “hard driven” bargain, Urban Renewal threw in a no-cost sewer line connection across the entire 17 acres PLUS interest of $180,293.28 on the new $1,199,413.08 promissory note held by the seller.  (See Pioneer Title Escrow #PN58395)

 This was called the “IDACOLD” purchase and it certainly did put a lot of taxpayer’s dollars on ice.

Then current Urban Renewal Commissioner/Councilman Thorne signed all the IDACOLD purchase documents in behalf of the North Nampa Urban Renewal District.

 No surprise that Mr. Thorne is now on record of not caring that 8.6 MILLION dollars of taxpayer money for the Mercy Rehab Project will be melted down to a taxable value of only 2.5 MILLION (with  NO positive tax-flow from the project for at least ten years).

The IDACOLD purchase pales by comparison to the $50,000,000 cost of the Idaho Center (plus six-figure losses every year since it opened in 1996).

 Current appraised price for the Idaho Center?  It doesn’t matter.  No one wants to buy it for any price.

How many more “good” deals can we afford?  NO more, not one.

 Sincerely yours,

Kim Blough

Nampa, Idaho

Syria "red line" What Do We Do?

Everyone has become a "5-minute General" with what to do in Syria. I know this is not the usual concerns put up on this blog but I heard one of the best descriptions of what to do and wanted to share it:

The "red line" has nothing to do with what we do or not what we do. The real decision time comes "when the cost of doing nothing is exceeded by doing something".  With the bad vibe of two wars in Iraq and Afghanistan hanging in the memory as well as the $2Trillion cost of these wars moving forward with due caution is a really tough thing to deal with as President.

Weapons of "mass destruction" was the war cry for Iraq and now we have the "red line" and the call for action by Mr. Obama.  I am old enough to remember the Hungarian uprising that happened in the 1950's and we did nothing but watch the slaughter of a lot of those people who got no help from us at their moment of need. 

Syria is a real bag of worms no matter how you perceive what is going on.
It is predicted to be a failed state in a matter of months.  The people doing most of the fighting are the very people we really do not want to see in power if the rebels win.  What a mess and they have some nasty stuff we may have to deal with one way or another.

How big is Syria?  Syria , officially Syrian Arab Republic, republic (2005 est. pop. 18,449,000), 71,467 sq mi (185,100 sq km), W Asia.  Idaho by comparison is 83,500 square miles with less than 2 million people.

Small Claims Court Now Held At Nampa Annex

As of April 1, 2013 all small claims actions will be held at the Nampa Annex.  You can still get the forms at the Caldwell Courthouse but you will have to file them in Nampa.

Business has been pretty slow for items of interest lately and this is all I have to offer until more comes my way.

Paul