ACHD

ACHD Commishes, Director Push Fee Hike On Advocacy Website

Highway District Commishes in Ada County are sponsoring a WEBSITE advocating passage of a fee hike on private cars.

Ada County Highway District Commishes are openly campaigning to impose a 75% vehicle fee hike on Ada County car owners, but not on vehicles over 8,000 lbs. Rather than campaign to use some of their heavy equipment to create a level playing field, they are asking voters to “trust us,” pass the open ended fee hike and then hope for the best from the legislature.

They hide behind the state law which enables them to impose local fees in addition to those we all pay to the state for vehicle registration–car licenses. That law currently exempts heavier vehicles like cement trucks, dump trucks, lumber trucks, and all those delivery trucks that profit from the use of highways they want the little guys to pay for.

The fee hike will be on the November ballot and has become quite the political football. Commish Jim Hansen is under investigation for possible illegal activities in violation of the Idaho Open Meeting Law. He wants to use part of the fee hike for public transit.

Finally, the list of supporters reads like a “Who’s Who” list of those benefitting from a fee hike. Contractor associations, developers, and politicos running for the ACHD Commission.

UPDATE 4 p.m. The filing for the group calling itself CITIZENS FOR BETTER TRANSPORTATION is with…(ready for this?)… the ACHD offices! Charles Rountree is chairman and Paul Wasser is treasurer. It was filed July 11, same day the Commishes voted to put the fee hike on the ballot. Here is the document: 08082018153120

Comments & Discussion

Comments are closed for this post.

  1. “… then hope for the best from the Legislature.”

    Fool us once, shame on you . . .

  2. No interest in this.

    Have people with cars pay more for cars to provide public transport for those without cars?

    That would be like a tax on childless people that went directly to benefit families. Not a fan of such blatant redistribution from one group (“passenger vehicle owners”) to another group (“public transit users”) like this.

    How about get public transit users to pay for public transit, and vehicle users to pay for vehicle stuff, and commercial road users to pay commercial use rates? (Because the 8,000+ lbs vehicles cause MORE stress to the road systems, not less).

    This better be on the ballot, and I’ll gladly vote “no”.

  3. Vote Yes! California is so wonderful, I just can’t wait to turn Idaho into another California with my love of higher taxes. Crime and crazy street people to follow.

    Coolest thing about Idaho living so far is I can speed, run lights, and text while driving and nobody cares. They never stop me for the opaque black windows either. Insurance optional too. Paying more for that kind of freedom is a real bargain.

    Sidebar. Is it possible the Kuna mystery smell is originating from Dave Bieter’s compost and poop farm programs? It really stinks.

  4. We now have two corrupt beasts to deal with: 1. Ada County. 2. City of Boise. Since one, is almost identical to the other (in geography at least) – why not abolish one of them? I’d be interested to know how much we are paying in redundant costs, services, personnel, healthcare and retirement pay, infrastructure to two entities that could likely be combined into one. It’s only a guess- but I’ll bet the inefficiency is staggering. With fewer levels of bureaucracy to deal with – perhaps responsiveness to issues like these could be improved.

    EDITOR NOTE–Not ready to abolish ACHD yet. There are myriad issues when you try to take care of signals, roads etc. within the likes of Boise, Meridian, Kuna, Star, Eagle, Garden City. Each has a 1 mile strip of “impact area” where they call the shots, but citizens cannot vote. Dissolving ACHD would be a nightmare.

  5. I see NO filing with the Idaho Secretary of State for this organization.

    Who is running the group?

    And is there a motion in the ACHD commission minutes to disclose, support and fund this?

    EDITOR NOTE–It appears the website is a “private venture” and not an official part of ACHD. The former PR director retired and we hear he is working for the group on a free lance basis.

  6. Voter is correct – there is no filing and if they have not filled and operation under and assumed name – which they are – then they are not operating legally.

    EDITOR NOTE–Please re-check the post for an update. They filed the document with the appropriate authority—the ACHD!

  7. What other choice does ACHD have sidestepping the 8,000 pound vehicle limitation? I agree with the argument that ALL registered vehicles should be paying their fair share, but ACHD doesn’t have the power to affect state law.

    Does the funding situation have to deteriorate further for the legislature to ‘get the point,’ and update the law?

    EDITOR NOTE–ACHD has done nothing that we know about asking for a change in the law. The law was originally lobbied by ACHD and either previous ACHD commishes or legislators stuck in the over 8,000 lb exemption. It is simply WRONG to place the burden on auto owners to provide roads for trucks. If the new website were aimed at passing a FAIR bill in the legislature, we would be thrilled.

  8. IdahoCrystal
    Aug 8, 2018, 5:38 pm

    It’s just awfully nice of ACHD to let Ada County folks shoulder the burden of their inefficiencies with such an absurdly large vehicle fee hike.

    Besides the big trucks, it’s pretty much a bonus for all the Canyon, Gem, Boise, Elmore, and Owyhee County commuters who get the benefit of driving in to Boise for work every day without having to chip in on those roads.

    Thanks ACHD!

    EDITOR NOTE–Not much we can do about those other counties. ACHD does manage the more than 100 commuter ride vans that go to and from those outlying counties and it cuts down on traffic.

  9. I am just not a fan of electioneering by elected officials. They approved the resolution to put this on the ballot, now let the people decide without the elected official’s influence. School districts and trustees have this problem too and it just does not look good to the constituents. http://www.idsba.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/Direct-Promotion-of-Bond-Elections.pdf

    It will be interesting to see which developers and associations pitch in to promote this political campaign. Contributions should be published the first of October, the same as candidates first round of campaign reports.

  10. Tax Donkeys
    Aug 9, 2018, 4:23 pm

    Russia! Russia! Russia! Putin must be responsible for giving naive Boiseans the idea that the US economy was fair.
    .
    Note to Boiseans: Our government is run by the wealthy, for the wealthy. The politicians you fight so hard to elect are puppets of the wealthy, become puppets of the wealthy, or are ignored until they leave in frustration. You are kept just happy enough so you don’t rise up and kill all the wealthy people, but no more. Citizens, or Consumers as they like to call us, are nothing but tax donkeys and a labor pool for the wealthy.
    .
    The Republic, if it ever really existed, was lost while the citizens/consumers were gorging on junk food, staring at video screens and popping pills. The final days of the Roman Empire are a mirror to current events.

  11. western guy
    Aug 9, 2018, 5:06 pm

    Charles Roundtree was/still is a Meridian City Council member and former senior staffer at Idaho Transportation Dept. Insiders Rule!

  12. Getting reelected raising taxes?
    Aug 10, 2018, 7:34 pm

    And unfairly putting the burden on the passenger car! We need a contra-site. They just don’t want to show bankruptcy due to malfeasance while they’re still in office. This is about a two year balance sheet fix. That is also why they want it to continue except for a vote.

    No vote here.

  13. I really get annoyed with cryptic comments. If you know something, say it right out loud.

  14. Yossarian_22
    Aug 12, 2018, 8:18 pm

    More and more subsidies for the biggest offenders. Trucking ruins the roads faster than standard weight vehicles. And the costs are driven by never ending access to perpetual printing that inflates pricing. Millions and millions turn into billions and billions in short order. There is no tether on inflation. Ask any politician and most don’t even understand what I explain to them. Team 17 can’t begin to understand this. I’ve given up on them.

Get the Guardian by email

Enter your email address:

Categories