Comments on: Audit Of Caldwell Urban Renewal Imperative

By: dog

dog — Thu, 18 Feb 2010 23:32:06 +0000

But do they taser people in their privates in 2C? Might be less corruption over there than you think.

By: ATeam88

ATeam88 — Thu, 18 Feb 2010 15:23:24 +0000

BG, your editor note to JamesBond has one error in it. None of the taxing districts have any choice in these situations except the Cities. The Cities are the entities creating the districts and are the only ones that have choice. All the other property tax leviers just get to deal without the revenue. The City governments continually look for the path of least resistance to the tax payer pocket.

By: Eric T

Eric T — Thu, 18 Feb 2010 05:59:06 +0000

the $250K number in the proposed legislation is simply too low to get any meaningful work done.

yeah, the legislators are sending a message in an election year (Wayne Hoffman would be proud of so much transparency) in reaction to a certain LID concept.

a $500K threshold is more in line with real world costs for doing local improvement projects.

By: Paul

Paul — Thu, 18 Feb 2010 04:34:29 +0000

Let’s hope State Legislators put a proper fix on the UR laws this year and get the voters back in control. I like the Raul Labrador LiD legislation requiring voter approvals on all LID’s over $250K. This may be too low for something like UR but it has to start at some defined point where “they ask and we get to approve”.

Oversight is sorely missing with current urban renewal law.

By: serendipity

serendipity — Thu, 18 Feb 2010 02:39:01 +0000

“funds. The money comes directly from the county treasurer once the District is formed…it is not even a “pass through.”

What a convenient and profitable SCAM!
Only in Idaho.

By: JamesBond

JamesBond — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 18:51:52 +0000

JLOC has the power the audit the agencies that divert the money. Thus, in performing such an audit, they clearly have authority to investigate those monies. It’s a matter of willpower to do it.

EDITOR NOTE–Don’t know JLOC, but once again the problem is structure. None of the cities, counties, schools, etc. have any choice in the matter. They DO NOT divert the funds. The money comes directly from the county treasurer once the District is formed…it is not even a “pass through.”

By: cyclops

cyclops — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 18:00:29 +0000

The discussion over coffee this morning down at CCDC? “I don’t care if you burn it, shred it, or eat it. Get rid of the paper trail!!!!”

By: Dr Spiegelvogel

Dr Spiegelvogel — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 15:36:22 +0000

Productive investigative reporting Paul Alldredge. Thank you.

Another case of Idaho politicians talking like Republicans, spending like Democrats, and acting like confused LIbertarians.

By: Steve Edgar

Steve Edgar — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 13:54:56 +0000

I find it ironic that the very people appointed or elected to the small commissions such as this one turn out to be some of the biggest abusers of the public dollar. We, as a body, tend to focus on the large agencies and their budgets with such a critical eye we tend to overlook the small taxing districts. These districts very often “pad” the official’s life style and award higher than justified compensation. I say this from my own investigation of some of these smaller districts in Ada County. While this is in Canyon County, there are many that deserve audit in Ada County as well. If we can recapture all of the waste at lower levels we can stop some of the bleeding of our tax dollars.
The Idaho Joint Legislative Oversight Committee has the power to conduct performance evaluations of ANY agency that receives tax dollars. (Title 67, chapter 4; 67-458. Definitions (2) (3)) Maybe it is time we start demanding these audits through our elected representatives on agencies which have preliminary evidence of misuse of tax dollars.
In most cases (I would not say that in this case) the root problem is ignorance. Many of our lower elected / appointed commissioners do not receive any education on the intricacies of government service. I think our Attorney General could very simply place a training guide on his web site designed to educate newly elected/appointed commissioners to the legal limits of their positions. Many, if not all, of these agencies are governed by Idaho Code and I have personally found an agency that did not know there was a state code document governing their commission!
Having said that, in our state where so many are so anti-government and publicly chastise the feds and their programs, we find many cases of blatant abuse of tax dollars at the local level by those who are screaming the loudest against federal spending. Ironic.

EDITOR NOTE–This may not be 100% accurate as the code stipulates the agency being audited must be “…created by statute which has the authority to levy, collect and spend tax moneys.” UR agencies get property taxes that are DIVERTED from city,county, schools, etc., but they don’t have LEVY authority and that’s how they avoid the Idaho constitution.

By: Mr. Logic

Mr. Logic — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 05:14:07 +0000

It would seem LOGICAL for the G-men to offer up a link to the post from a few years back when the BG exposed the fact CCDC was paying dues for the director at the ultra exclusive Arid Club.

EDITOR NOTE– Here are the links. We broke the story and within hours the private use or public money was stopped.
https://boiseguardian.com/2007/03/14/ccdc-pays-arid-club-dues/

https://boiseguardian.com/2007/03/15/ccdc-jumps-on-arid-club-issue/