Letters to the editor: school impact fees, Supreme Court nominee, GOP candidates
School impact fees
The Concerned Citizens of Canyon County Committee has been urging the legislature to give school districts the ability to use impact fees for new school construction. With each new home comes children under 18. Meridian’s population is 117,635. Of that 33,173 are under 18, and 22,115 are school age. For 1,000 new homes, there are 2,820 new citizens with 530 school age children, one-fifth of the students in the new $70 million school. The cost: $28,000 per student. The cost of the schools are paid by bonds, which are paid by property tax, and the existing property taxpayers pay the bill for the new schools they do not need. If the legislature would simply amend Idaho Code 67-8203 (24) by adding (g) public schools, the problem would be solved. When building permits are issued, that share of the cost of the new needed future schools would be part of the impact fee on new construction. Impact fees are paid initially by the developer and become part of the final sale value of the home or business. They are no more than a temporary cost to the builder as is the cost of the material and labor to construct the home. They are simply a part of the sales price, and those fees will be isolated and utilized to pay for the cost of the new school buildings.
Ronald M. Harriman, Nampa, chairman of the Concerned Citizens of Canyon County Idaho
Supreme Court nominee
The three most recent Supreme Court nominees by a Republican were Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett. Justice Gorsuch was confirmed by a vote of 54-45, with three Democratic senators (the same number as Republicans who recently supported Justice Jackson) voting in the majority. Justice Kavanaugh, after enduring patently ludicrous attacks by Democrats regarding alleged sexual misconduct as a high-schooler, was confirmed 50-48, with only a single Democrat voting in his favor. Justice Barrett, after having to defend herself for being Catholic, was confirmed 52-48 without any Democrat supporting her. But when Sens. Crapo and Risch voted against Ketanji Brown Jackson’s confirmation with some pretty weak rationale, the Statesman’s editorial board saw them as working “to politicize the court,” as if the politicizing of the Supreme Court is something new. It’s getting harder to take the editorial board seriously.
Randal James, Boise
GOP candidates
I’m writing in response to the letter by Pamela Hunt, of Nampa, printed in the March 29 Statesman. Her choice of candidates in the GOP primary was the exact opposite of who she should vote for, to “return Idaho to the wonderful place it’s been.” Her favored candidates: McGeachin, Moon, Labrador and Giddings are NOT the ones to usher in a better Idaho, or return the state to some imaginary cultural/social/political nirvana for conservative “political refugees” from California or elsewhere.
The list of unethical, unconstitutional, illegal and misguided acts/statements/legislation these candidates have perpetrated is long and embarrassing.
As a native Idahoan, military veteran (U.S. Air Force) and someone who’s voted for more than a few Republicans in my life, McGeachin, Moon, Labrador and Giddings would do more harm than good.
Actually, voting a straight Republican ticket perpetuates the political in-breeding and non-accountability that now plagues this state.
Republicans and Democrats used to cooperate and produce good policies and laws that benefited all Idahoans. It was the “Idaho Way” for decades. Read about Cecil Andrus, Phil Batt and others who helped shape modern Idaho. Be thoughtful when you vote. There are very qualified candidates on both sides of the aisle.
John Post, Boise