POST FALLS - The Post Falls City Council on Tuesday night approved a 2 percent property tax increase while approving a $16.9 million fiscal 2012 budget.

After hearing 10 residents speak - mostly opposing a tax hike and the largest public turnout for a budget hearing in recent years - the majority of the council said it believes a tax bump is necessary to maintain service levels after having no increase the past two years.

The council also believed it would be robbing from the future if it didn't tend to issues and keep up services now.

"I don't want to increase taxes, but we have to be reasonable and honest with ourselves and honest with the future," council member Skip Hissong said. "I have to support some sort of increase so we don't dump it all on the kids."

The council voted 5-1 to increase taxes. The lone dissenting vote was made by Kerri Thoreson. Cities are allowed to increase taxes up to 3 percent under law.

Hissong said if roads aren't maintained, that leads to more expensive fixes in the future. If the city doesn't do a better job of maintaining police officers, it costs $65,000 to re-train a new one.

"Sometimes being short-sighted costs a lot more money on the other side," he said.

The tax increase will cost an additional $8.05 per year for the owner of a $150,000 home and $15.63 for the owner of a $250,000 home. It will raise $159,440 in revenue.

The increase, along with $133,477 in new growth and annexation funds, will be spent on street maintenance, the vehicle/equipment replacement fund and employee merit pay, excluding department heads.

Resident Fred Ebel said he believes other revenue streams and cost-cutting methods, including a local option sales tax, joining forces with other taxing districts, impact fees and increasing user fees, should have been considered before increasing property taxes.

Resident John Grout said the quality of life in Post Falls is a tradeoff for less wages than some neighboring municipalities. He said hiring and wage freezes and employees paying more for benefits have been the norm during the recession and government should continue to follow suit.

"We can't have more property taxes," he said. "It just kills us."

Resident Jeff Ward said double-digit unemployment and a lot of foreclosures are indications the economy is still in a slump.

"At this point, we are living on the edge in this community," he said.

But council member Ron Jacobson said it's less costly to raise taxes now than to utilize the city's foregone tax balance to make up ground in the future.

"We need to protect ourselves from falling further behind," he said. "I don't want to increase taxes, but it's the correct thing to do."

The city has had a salary freeze for the past three years. Eleven positions have been cut during the recession. No new positions are planned for the fourth straight year.