ACHD was set to OK budget with flat property taxes. Two commissioners ‘rocked the boat’
Nearly everyone knew how the budget vote was going to end before it began: A majority of the Ada County Highway District Commission would support keeping property tax revenue flat amid the coronavirus pandemic, and pass the district’s $135.7 million budget for the upcoming fiscal year.
“It became obvious ... that if there’s any way we can help lessen some of those burdens by moving forward with a flat budget, we should do it,” Commission President Mary May previously told the Statesman.
But that didn’t stop Commissioners Kent Goldthorpe and Jim Hansen from “rocking the boat,” as Goldthorpe put it, when the commissioners met Wednesday to pass the budget for the year starting Oct. 1.
“Apparently .... too much,” he said upon gauging his fellow commissioners’ reactions.
Both Hansen and Goldthorpe pushed for changes to the budget that would have dedicated about $2 million more to ACHD community programs, which include projects like new curb ramps, speed bumps, pedestrian crossings and bike network improvements.
Hansen pushed for the commissioners to increase property tax revenues by factoring in this year’s new construction, which would add $1.6 million to the budget. Those additional funds, he said, should be used for community projects.
But Hansen’s motion was quickly shut down: It was illegal.
After ACHD publicizes its budget, the commission can only vote to decrease it, ACHD General Counsel Steve Price said.
So Goldthorpe offered a different idea. Bids for construction projects often come in lower than what ACHD budgets for, he said. Why not shift money saved from low bids into the community projects fund?
His ideas were shut down quickly by the three commissioners supporting the original budget proposal: Sara Baker, Mary May and Rebecca Arnold.
“We just need to pass the budget,” said District 5’s Baker, who represents North Meridian, parts of Star and Eagle south of the Boise River, and part of of West Boise. She suggested they turn to Goldthorpe’s idea when they discuss the Integrated Five Year Work Plan, ACHD’s list of priority road projects.
“I agree we should reallocate those funds,” said Arnold, who represents District 2, including West Boise and Garden City. But the commission already reviews any savings in its budget on a quarterly budget and decides how to use them then, she argued. “Those decisions have to be made on a case-by-case basis.”
Goldthorpe questioned whether that would happen.
“We have never made decisions on those savings,” Goldthorpe told The Statesman in a phone interview. ACHD staff, he said, usually shifts the money around as they see fit, and then asks the commission for their approval on the plan. The commission typically gives it.
Making sure that money goes to community projects like pedestrian and bike paths has been important to Goldthorpe, he said, since last July when a driver hit and killed a 7-year-old bicyclist on Amity Road east of the Cloverdale Intersection.
“Kids shouldn’t have to ride out on those streets,” said Goldthorpe, who represents Meridian, Kuna and south Ada County.
Hansen — who represents Boise’s Bench, as well as neighborhoods in the south and east — supported Goldthorpe’s proposal.
“Every year I raise the concern that way too much goes into adding new (road) capacity,” he said. “Meanwhile, the list of community projects keeps growing.”
The commission voted against Goldthorpe’s proposal and decided to continue to address any savings as they come up, rather than setting them aside solely for community projects.
“I don’t want to tie the hands of the commission any more than we need to today,” Arnold said.
The budget, as written, passed with four commissioners voting in favor. Only Goldthorpe voted against.
“I think this is an unusual year,” Baker said, referring to the financial strains created by the COVID-19 pandemic.
The commission also waived its right to draw upon those foregone taxes in another year.
“We are not going to use the public’s wallet as our bank account in the future,” Baker said.
And why did Hansen vote for a budget that he wanted to change?
“There is a greater percentage of money in community projects than in past years,” he wrote The Statesman via text. He also has been working with ACHD staff to ensure that community projects in his district are at the top of the priority list.
“It’s so troubling about how unsafe and ignored parts of our older, more modest-income neighborhoods are,” he wrote.
Meanwhile, Goldthorpe left the meeting, stewing on his and Hansen’s rejected proposals.
“We came prepared and it looked like the others had already decided,” he said.
This story was originally published August 26, 2020 at 9:23 PM.
