Officials of a Kootenai County highway district are confident they took no missteps, in spite of a hearing the county commissioners will hold over the district's highly-disputed financing measures.

"I just hope that they use common sense and see what was needed and what we did right," said Dick Edinger, commissioner with East Side Highway District.

The county commissioners, meeting as an appellate body, will hold a hearing Wednesday morning to determine whether to uphold half a million dollars worth of local improvement districts that East Side Highway District created to help pay for transportation projects.

The LIDs are subject to county approval because of the high number of written protests from affected property owners, as dictated by state law.

Edinger said he hopes the commissioners recognize that the district had no other means to match federal funding for overlays on decrepit roads.

"It's the only thing we can do," Edinger said, adding that voters have rejected levy increases.

East Side Commissioner Jimmie Dorsey noted that the commissioners scrupulously followed legal advice on forming the LIDs.

"We felt we did everything in accordance with the rules," Dorsey said.

East side officials have warned that if the LIDs worth $569,000 are shot down, that amount must come straight out of the district budget, axing a multitude of capital improvement projects.

"This (decision) has a tremendous financial impact on our budget," Dorsey said.

The highway commissioners saw a fleeting window of opportunity at the end of 2009, when the state offered leftover federal funds for shovel-ready projects.

The officials supplied the 7.3 percent match for the dollars, footing the bill for new overlays on sections of Sunnyside and O'Gara roads in Coeur d'Alene, and Burma Road in Harrison.

"These roads had a life of three, five and seven years total," Dorsey explained. "After that time it would have to be a complete reconstruct, which would mean the cost would be about triple."

To make up for the dollars taken for the match, the district commissioners approved the three LIDs last year.

Those include a $162,000 LID for the Sunnyside Road overlay; a $159,000 LID for the Burma Road project; and a $248,000 LID for the O'Gara Road work.

According to district staff, the Burma LID would be funded by 139 property owners; the Sunnyside LID by 430; and O'Gara by 133.

District residents have blasted the district with their objections. Many have contested that the LIDs are unfair and the improvements unnecessary.

Harrison resident James Sharron said he would have to kick in $1,600 to the O'Gara LID, and a few of his neighbors would have to fork over $5,000.

"I think this will set a precedent for the rest of Idaho. Anytime someone needs a road repaved, they can LID the people who live on it," Sharron said. "I think it's totally unfair for the people who live along this highway to pay for a repaving job."

He fears that property owners' concerns will be unheeded, he added, since the county will not take new testimony on Wednesday, but only review opinions from past district hearings.

"I'm not very optimistic we're going to win," Sharron said.

The commissioners' hearing is scheduled for 10 a.m. on Wednesday in Room 1 of the county Administration Building.

Under state statute, the commissioners must choose to reject, modify or approve the LIDs, by analyzing their various impacts and necessity.

The overlays on Sunnyside and Burma are already complete, Dorsey said. O'Gara is scheduled to be finished by the end of October.

The district has noted increased traffic flows after the overlays' completion, he added.

"There's a lot of people in my highway district who are benefiting from a new road," Dorsey said.