Idaho's Financial Crisis

["John Danahy" <JDANAHY@turbonet.com>]

An article in today's Spokesman Review outlined the continuing financial
crisis facing the State of Idaho.  It appears now that the projections for
state income from tax receipts was severely off.  It is likely that even
after Governor Kempthorne's executive order to hold back 2% of state
funding, that Idaho will still end up 30 to 40 million in the red.  The
article went on to discuss, among other things, the likelihood of reductions
in school funding next year.

If state funding for schools is a concern for the legislature, the quickest
and easiest way to solve the state level funding issue is to eliminate
former Governor Batt's property tax give back.  This would result in an
immediate increase in local property taxes of 1 mil of total district
property tax value.  For residents of the Moscow School District, this would
mean an approximate property tax increase of between $750,000 and $1,000,000
depending on total assessments.  These numbers are only approximates!

I know some of our legislators read and contribute to this list and
considering the number of property tax bond issues before the voters this
November, I would like to hear their insight.

John

John and Laurie Danahy
jdanahy@turbonet.com