End of the road for Kootenai transportation funding vote

Roads in Kootenai County desperately need improvements but local governments in the county lack the money to pay for transportation projects. On Nov. 3, Kootentai’s voters rejected adding extra fees added onto vehicle registrations as a way to raise those funds, and did so with an inarguable supermajority.

“Road conditions are important to people, but when we ask them for funding we have to be very clear as to what the need is and how the money will be spent,” said Wayne Hammon, CEO of the Idaho Associated General Contractors, whose member firms do a large bite of the road work in the state. “In the Kootentai County election, I think the committee did a good job of of taking about it … but I don’t think their messaging was as clear as it could have been. The people there recognize the need but they want to know how the money is going to be spent and where it is going to be spent. We have to do a really good job explaining that need every time we ask for additional resources.”

In a way, the rejection of the additional fees by Kootenai County voters is a symptom of a bigger problem. Other than the state highway fund, the only other way that local jurisdictions can raise money for roads in Idaho is through voter-approved fees added onto vehicle registrations. It’s known as the local-option registration fee.

This seldom-attempted revenue-raising tool is buried deep in Idaho’s state tax codes and it comes with restrictions. First, using it must be approved by voters during a general election. In addition, the funds can only be used locally and the fee must have a sunset date.

Kootenai County has grown over 25% over the last decade, most of it in the last three years. Its road system was designed a half-century ago, when the population was less than a third of what it is now. Ask anyone who lives there: this is a recipe for unhappiness, especially in the area’s biggest community of Coeur d’Alene whenever I-90 or Highway 41 backs up.

The local option vehicle registration fee on the November ballot would have added an annual $50 for vehicles under 8,000 pounds and $25 for motorcycles. The fee would sunset in 20 years.

Like a similar attempt in Ada County in 2018, the ballot measure to add the local-option registration fee in Kootenai was sunk by its voters. It failed with an unambivalent 67% rejection rate.

Despite the failed ballot measure, Kootenai County still needs to update its outdate roads and retool them for the projected future growth of the area. Otherwise the growing problems with traffic in the area will just keeping getting worse, according to Glenn Miles, the executive director of the Kootenai Metropolitan Planning Organization, a federally-required highway planning agency for all of Kootenai County.

While Miles is disappointed with outcome of the vote, he is already looking forward: “I’ve been asked to do some more research to see what options are on the table.” In the upcoming weeks, he told the Idaho Business Review, he will be going back into the local highway data and analyzing how the local governments within the county can address transportations need with the limited funds on hand.

He will also be looking at how the KMPO can do a better job of educating the county’s residents on the need to fund transportation upgrades in the county: “It’s an education issue … The next opportunity (for voter approval) will be in 2022.”

Miles and his staff probably have the best understanding of Kootenai’s road needs. Last year, KMPO updated the highway transportation plan for the region. The plan identified the projects necessary to fix the current roads and to meet future growth. The price tag to do so is $1.8 billion. That’s enough money to buy just over one-half of a Virginia-class fast-attack submarine.

In a way, that $1.8 billion is also the cost of not funding the updates needed in the past to accommodate the growth that has already occurred — something an MPO is supposed to help a locality to avoid.

The rejected ballot initiative would have funded less than half of the work that KMPO identified. County commissioners decided to ask for funding only for the 12 most-needed projects. If voters had approved the new fees, then those would have raised only around $240 million spread over 20 years. That’s because local jurisdictions only need to raise 30% of the total cost of transportation projects. The rest of the tab would have been picked up by federal and state funds.

Raising $240 million over two decades would have purchased two F-35 fighter jets on a non-interest installment. When spread out over the population of the county, the projected cost would have been $0.14 per person per day. Unfortunately, state law prevents raising the funds any way other than tagging it onto vehicle registration fees — and there are fewer cars than there are people in Idaho.

Miles acknowledged that many voters did not absorb the message that there was no other way to raise money for the county’s roads: “Several people thought we should put tolls on I-90 and charge people coming into Kootenai County.  Some people thought a gas tax would be a good idea so that tourists visiting the area could help pay for the roads. It’s an educational issue.

“There was also misunderstanding about whether impact could be used used. Impact fees can’t be used to cure past road decisions. Impact fees can only be used forward, for future development. The amount that impact fees that can be used to address fixing existing road problems is very small.”

When asked if he thought that the Legislature might take measures or provide new funding that might help Kootenai with its road problems, Miles replied: “I am guardedly optimistic. I realize there are a lot of transportation issues in the state of Idaho. We’re one of the fastest-growing parts of the state and we have a legacy transportation system that needs investment. If there is any opportunity for statewide funding, I would hope that we can look forward to (how those funds can help with) what needs to be done.”

Hammon acknowledged that Idaho’s laws presenting unique challenges to funding roads in the state, regardless of jurisdiction. “There are a lot of issues around the local option tax questions to fund transportation.”

When asked if he thought the Legislature would allow local governments to pursue more ways to raise funds for roads that just the sole local option registration fees, Hammon replied: “I don’t know if that can be resolved in just one legislative session; however, the Kootenai vote and the 2018 Ada County vote does show us that, all across the state, people are concerned about transportation. I believe we can do a better job of statewide funding for those needs, especially for the local transportation systems.”