A push to bring an advisory question to voters over the role of urban renewal districts is reverberating along the political corridors of Kootenai County.

Kootenai County Treasurer Steve Matheson said the prospects of a future line item on residents’ tax bills was the final straw that motivated him to push for a change.

“When I have taxpayers come in and complain that their taxes are going up, it becomes weary,” Matheson said. “I guess the thing that put me over the edge is: This recent one is going to ask for $14 million from the Kootenai County taxing authority, and that is coming from county taxpayers for city property needs.”

“This recent one” Matheson referred to is the Health Corridor, the December-approved creation that passed the Coeur d’Alene City Council by a 5 to 1 vote and essentially ceded taxing authority of 263 acres surrounding Kootenai Health to the new district’s jurisdiction.

The project, which stretches from Government Way to Northwest Boulevard east to west, and around I-90 to Davidson Avenue north to south, is intended to revitalize Coeur d’Alene’s health care district through development of some properties and re-development of others — all with the goal of attracting additional business and high-paying jobs to the area.

But Matheson has two questions: Who pays for it? Who’s politically accountable for it? That, he said, scratched at his conscience to the point where he said he had to act.

“As a tax collector in Kootenai County, I see a continuing proliferation of URDs. We have 12 today. Last year alone, we had $11.6 million re-directed to these districts ... That’s a lot of money,” he said. “I live in the county. I don’t get to vote on this, but through the mechanism of urban renewal, with NIC, two highway districts and obviously the City [of Coeur d’Alene], they’re getting county taxpayers to pay for city infrastructure. I don’t know where along the line it became acceptable for this mechanism to replace the people’s will, but somewhere along the line, we all just accepted it. Now our county taxpayers are paying the price.”

Matheson said an advisory vote would, at the very least, hold the decision-makers politically accountable. He said he intends to ask the county commissioners to vote to put a question on the ballot that would gauge voters’ response to the most recent district. While language has not been finalized, a December draft of the question he hopes will make the ballot reads as follows while asking for a ‘yes’ or ‘no’ response:

“Do you support the City of Coeur d’Alene Council Bill No. 19-1018, an ordinance approving the urban renewal plan for the Health Corridor Urban Renewal Project, which plan includes revenue allocation financing provisions?”

Matheson, who ran an unsuccessful campaign for one of two open Kootenai Health Board of Trustees positions last May, said he’s concerned about how quickly urban renewal districts grow from academic hypothetical to taxpayer-funded reality.

“I remember I was at a CDA 2020 meeting,” he recalled. “We were talking about what was our vision for the community. [Kootenai Health executive director] Jon Ness — who I have the utmost respect for — was speaking, and I asked who was going to pay for this. He politely told me this was just a whiteboard exercise.

“Fast-forward a couple of years, and the city develops a URD to build city infrastructure. Where it went from whiteboard to URD is anyone’s guess.”

He said that lack of political accountability — from whiteboard, he alleges, to urban renewal plan to Council vote — spawned his push for an advisory question. It’s a sentiment that has drawn agreement and discord alike, sometimes from a single voice.

“The thing that’s worth noting is, Steve Matheson is not against the Health Corridor,” said Commissioner Chris Fillios. “His position is simply that he doesn’t like the way the city has decided to have gone about this. There really is a bigger question here: How do people feel about municipalities implementing URDs that people outside the jurisdiction will have to pay for?”

Fillios said he wouldn’t decide whether or not to approve the question for the May ballot until he sees finalized language.

“When it comes to URDs, there’s just a lot of emotion,” Fillios said. “There are people who think that the City Council didn’t have the right to [approve the Health Corridor]. But that’s a question for the state legislature. That’s not for us to decide.”

Matheson agreed with Fillios on at least one point: The treasurer’s argument was directed against URDs, not against Kootenai Health.

“Of all the districts out there, the Health Corridor is probably the one that benefits the most people,” Matheson said. “I’m [emphasizing] the Health Corridor because it’s the most recent. That’s really the goal. I don’t want to wait until the next one. I don’t want to have another ‘whiteboard exercise’ give birth to another URD. We need to look at this matter now.”

Representatives from Kootenai Health declined to comment for this story.

Outside of political ammunition, the advisory vote would carry little weight, a notion that wasn’t lost on Coeur d’Alene Councilmember Dan Gookin. Gookin was the lone vote against the Health Corridor in December.

“It might make people feel good,” he acknowledged, “but it’s an exercise in futility. It’s a waste of political capital, and there already is political accountability.

“Let’s say this gets on the ballot in May. People will get upset about URDs, and they’ll vote 60 to 80 percent against them. But then November 2021 will come 18 months later, and council members will come up for election, and the same people who say they’re all for URDs will get voted in. Right now, what’s the point of having an election in May where you have 75 percent say ‘We hate URDs,’ and then you’ll have voters elect people who support them?

“It feels like it’s a nanny-nanny boo-boo situation that’s just too little, too late.”

Matheson remains undeterred. He approached the Kootenai County Democratic Central Committee last week to gather support. The committee has not scheduled a vote, but newly elected chair Laura Tenneson said she and other committee members disagree with the treasurer’s position that urban renewal districts lack political accountability.

“I appreciate that Mr. Matheson spent the time to come to speak to the KCDCC and that he recognized us as a group that may be sympathetic to his cause,” Tenneson said in a statement. “However, while advisory votes are allowable, they are somewhat controversial and are generally only used in extreme situations. The citizens of Coeur d’Alene spend considerable time and effort campaigning for and voting for a City Council that they believe will accurately represent them. As a result, we trust the City Council to weigh all options and make decisions that are in the best interest of our community.”

Tenneson further said putting the brakes on the Health Corridor required more justification than what she felt she saw in Matheson’s presentation.

“Unfortunately, it’s just too far along in the process at this point to justify an advisory vote,” she said. “The Health Corridor district has already been created, commitments have already been made and the process has already begun.”

Matheson disagrees.

“[The City has] been working on the Health Corridor for three years,” he said. “If we’ve been working on it for that long, is putting it on hold for three months really going to make a difference?”

Ultimately, Matheson said, his concern over urban renewal districts focuses more on the principle than the timing.

“I don’t like the idea a single City Council is making a decision on a $500 million project,” he said. “I don’t think the City of Coeur d’Alene gets to make that decision. There should be an advisory vote, and it is not too late for that advisory vote to happen.

“This is a community decision. I don’t get to make that decision, and I sure as hell don’t think the city gets to make that decision over the voters and taxpayers in Kootenai County.”