Are you surprised? Really?

Not to be outdone by Boise officials, Blaine County Commissioners awarded themselves a 10% raise this year over the objections of a citizens committee.

Oddly, this was all done after the election filing deadline had passed. From August.

http://thecivillibertarian.blogspot.com/2012/08/local-politicians-every-bit-as.html

Not that I’m complaining mind you Crystal but pretty obvious you don’t live in Nampa–home of the Idaho Center which we susidize for over 1 million/year or raising of the Idaho Power Franchise fee by 50% last summer or looking forward to a minimum increase of 27% in our sewer fees. Yup life is good over here and we are going to make Bujak pay for his sins too, whose contract with Nampa was written 3 different times by the city attorney–Oh wait I got it mixed up–we are going to pay a bunch of attorneys—-

I say we all just poop on Team Dave’s front lawn once a week until he gets the message.

@Idahocrystal. Your Canyon taxes are more than Ada. Just less than Boise City.

If you go by the city spokesperson’s logic, then shouldn’t Boise residents be able to deduct for the all the businesses that have failed or relocated during the recession? And yes, Boise, there has been a recession. It’s not too soon to appeal to the 2013 Legislature to end these outrageous salary bumps by capping them through state law. I recall specifically asking some of Boise’s leaders when they were running for election if they were “tax and spend” Democrats. They said they were not. It appears they are. I hope this “we deserve” disease doesn’t spread to my city (Meridian.)

Founding fathers had fewer reasons to revolt against tyranny in government. When will we fight against this state’s push to bring Orwell’s 1984 into reality?

And another thing:

The 3 Ada County Commissioners make– what is it, 90k per year? That’s $270,000 per year in salaries. That’s roughtly the same as the combined salaries of Boise’s Mayor and Councliors. And just what does Ada County do? Not much compared to the City of Boise which provides the parks for ALL of Ada County residents. How many parks does Ada County have? One.

For another perspective, 280,000 per year is just more than $1.00 per year per resident.

You people are griping OVER PENNIES! There are many other more expensive things to go after like police and fire and prosecution of victimless crimes.

I wonder which council or mayoral seat Ms. Arnold has her eye on.

In my comment to mayor and council, I noted that in the six years during which they had not taken a pay hike [their rationale for such a steep increase this year], they raised their tax on my home by 60 percent while my Social Security cost-of-living adjustment totaled 16 percent. As a result, a quarter of my Social Security income goes to pay property tax, 11 percent for Boise City, alone.

I recommended that they curb their appetites.

The real issue here is not what they make but the costly decisions they make with very little regard for taxpayers.

There is always a certain amount of money we can all expect to pay for living in our cities and counties but when they start talking about a train to nowhere and other folly and disregard for taxpayers it makes me angry.

notalib you are out of touch with most people’s reality.

Arnold and ACHD are the worst example of local government budgets and ‘arrogance’. And her statement is equally “absolutely ridiculous”.
In the 2013 Budget, the Director states: Budget Summary
The total budget reflects a three‐percent increase over the prior year and is responsive to the county’s needs. AND “Personnel costs… represents a
3.1‐percent rise over the prior year”.

Go to a meeting and it is clear, they have already decided based on staff recommendation instead of thoughtful input from guests doing an “excercise in futility”.
Not sure if she is a crock pot or a cast-iron kettle.

Actually East Side, the ACHD did NOT take the 3% increase in property tax, unlike Boise City. They get money from other sources like impact fees and gas tax which may account for the increase in the budget. And don’t forget Boise’s taking more in electric franchise fees (notice your bill went up?), recreation fees, fines and sewer costs. In fact, it would appear Boise never met a tax or fee they didn’t love and love to raise! ACHD ain’t perfect, by any means, but at least they balance their budget and not on the backs of the taxpayers.

11 years ago Boise took over providing fire services in areas that Whitney Fire covered. All Whitney firefighters became members of Boise Fire. At this time to paint a picture, Whitney fire district was the size of a pie. The Whitney fire chief retired about 4-6 months after the take over. Whitney fire commissioners were and still in existence to this day. After Whitney’s chief retired the commissioners wanted extra management after the chief was gone. Boise fire chief Renn Ross at the time appointed 1 new Batallian chief per shift as managers, this cost Boise city approximately 150,000 per BC each yr so roughly 500,000 per year. Whitney does pay an amount to Boise each year, but they are using all their reserve funds and soon get to the time when they will be exhausted. Boise closed the old Whitney station on Overland road and built a new station S five mile. Here’s the kicker, in 2007 after not having a fire chief for 7 years and the size of Whitney fire district is the size of a slice of the pie, Boise fire chief retires and Whitney commissioners make him the new fire chief at 62,000 plus benefits, after 5 yrs, this December he will be retiring with a retirement of 11.5 percent of his 5 yr average. Here is where greed as Gordon Gecco from the movie Wall Street stated is the real tragedy. At the new Whitney station on S Five Mile, one of the fire rigs was a 7,000 gal water tender which is needed as in that area, fire hydrants are not closely available as in Boise City. In Oct of 2011, the water tender was shut down due to costs, it is manned should there be an extra firefighter available on that shift. I have a fire report from early this year that a house caught fire, first in engine company was on a medical, so a different fire engine was dispatched, it only took a short time to run out of water, and extra engines were called in, some 7-10 miles. So basically who out there would like the Whitney fire chief, where you have a part time secretary to supervise, no firefighters to manage, vehicle full benefits, nobody knows where your at if you show up at all, as a lot of firefighters have told me the chiefs gotten his golf game pretty good at Falcon Crest. Whitney district size in 2007 was 9 share ft. Boise officials could say he wasn’t our employee, his cost was paid by Whitney fire district, does anybody else see the catch 22, Boise city has lost 400-500 thousand that should have gone into Boise’s fire budget and the new Boise fire chief was a big help in this waste of Boise tax payers dollars.

EDITOR NOTE–Can you offer any insight about Boise taking over the NACFR, absorbing the firefighters, closing the station on Chinden and increasing response times for Fairview and Chinden areas.