Higher Boise County Budget Proposed

Contributed by Jayne Reed Hello Boise County Taxpayers- I am sure that you all remember that we are paying off the Alamar debt with a bond that we voted on last year. When deciding to tax ourselves to get rid of this debt, we wanted the County Commissioners to follow strict guidelines with the remaining tax dollars that we give the county. They are supposed to use any leftover funds from any account to help pay the bond. The Commissioners are supposed to hold the budget level or reduce it. WELL, if you look at the corrected budget that the paper printed this week, the Commissioners are proposing a higher budget. Commissioner Anderson stated in several meetings that she wants to keep the promise to the taxpayers and NOT have increases. The two new Commissioners, Barbara Balding and Vicki Wilkins, are not sure that the people understood that holding the budget level or reducing it, could POSSIBLY mean cuts in services until the bond is paid off. So consequently, Balding and Wilkins are “not comfortable” making those cuts without hearing from the people. Tell the Commissioners to keep the promise that was made last year and make the cuts to the budget! Our deadline to comment and hope the Commissioners will decrease the budget is Monday, August 26 at 5pm. We can fax comments to the clerk’s office at (208)392-4473, or send emails to all of the Commissioners: bmbalding@co.boise.id.us, vlwilkins@co.boise.id.us, and jamiea@frontiernet.net. The other option is to show up at the budget hearing on Tuesday, August 27 from 6-8pm at the Miner’s Exchange in Idaho City. Thank you, Jayne Reed