The purpose of my monthly columns on urban renewal is to provide answers to misunderstandings and to provoke public comments on the issue. Based on my latest column it certainly seems to be working. 

By 7:30 Sunday morning my email was humming and questions have since been plentiful. Most of the comments focused on what people had been led to believe by others. Mr. Frank Orzell, who states my Oct. 30 column contains "serious errors," finally topped this flurry of comments in a letter to the editor. While it is good to see that we can't all agree on everything, I thought a response to Mr. Orzell was in order.

He calls "blatantly false" the fact that only properties in the urban renewal district pay taxes to LCDC. I would challenge Mr. Orzell to show me one single tax bill from any parcel outside LCDC's two urban renewal districts (URDs) that pay taxes to them. The fact is he won't be able to find such a tax bill so my statement is true. As hard as it is to believe, only those taxpayers in the URDs pay taxes that flow to LCDC, or any urban renewal agency in Idaho. Having created URDs in nine North Idaho cities, I know this to be true.

He also states that I am wrong that property taxes no longer fund public schools, noting his tax bill contains one line item related to a supplemental levy. He neglected to read this part in my column: "except when they receive voter approval for supplemental or plant facility levies." Further, the fact is that even taxes paid in URDs go toward those voter-approved levies, so the burden of taxation to schools is actually decreased to the rest of us because of urban renewal.

He also doesn't see the connection between urban renewal and a public vote on McEuen Field. The fact is that LCDC will provide millions of dollars to the McEuen Field project, so that is a viable connection. Also pertinent to the discussion, as I noted above, is the fact that only a small portion of the city's property owners, those in LCDC's Lake District, will provide those millions to McEuen Field. If taxes truly did increase for the rest of us, a binding vote would be required on the issue.

I am very glad that the discussion on urban renewal has a place in the Coeur d'Alene Press because it is a complicated and very misunderstood issue. I encourage Mr. Orzell or anyone else with questions to please email me at john@pacni.org. Together, we can bring the serious misunderstandings to a basis in fact, and finally end the falsehoods perpetrated by others.

JOHN F. AUSTIN

Harrison