SANDPOINT — First District Judge Babara Buchanan is upholding the validity of the Lake Pend Oreille School District’s $12.7 million permanent levy.

Buchanan issued a 16-page decision and order on Monday granting the school district’s motion for summary judgment and denying a competing summary judgment motion filed by taxpayer Don Skinner, who argued that the levy’s outcome should be voided because the ballot did not contain a mandatory disclosure of the tax impact on landowners if the measure passed.

School district voters narrowly passed the permanent levy in a 4,265-4,034 vote on Nov. 5, 2019. However, the ballot did not contain an estimated average annual cost based on based on a landowner’s taxable assessed value.

Lawmakers amended Idaho voting laws to require the tax impact disclosure on ballots in March 2019.

Counsel for Skinner argued Idaho Code requires strict compliance with the disclosure requirement, while attorneys for the district maintained that the law did not require strict compliance.

Both sides advanced cross motions for summary judgment, setting the stage for the dispute to be resolved as a matter of law and without the need for a trial.

Buchanan held that the Idaho Supreme Court has consistently ruled in school district election challenges dating back to the 1920s that regulating statutes are mandatory if invoked prior to a vote and merely directory if invoked after ballots are cast. Moreover, the state law cited by Skinner contains no provision declaring that the newly enacted disclosure language is essential to the validity of the election or that its omission invalidates the vote’s outcome, Buchanan said in the order.

Buchanan also observed there was a dearth of Idaho case law regarding ballot language and no case law interpreting the disclosure statute Skinner’s case rested on.

“That being said, all of the Idaho election cases this court has reviewed adhere to one controlling principle: Idaho courts are very reluctant to over the results of an election,” Buchanan wrote.

Buchanan further held that for Skinner to prevail on his motion and to withstand the district’s motion, he would have to present evidence to show that the omitted verbiage affected the outcome of the election.

“The plaintiff has failed to present any such evidence,” Buchanan said, referring to affidavits from Skinner or anyone else who was not fully informed of the purpose, length and impact of the levy.

“The voters were fully informed of the purpose for which the levied funds would be used, the date of the election, the estimated amount to be collected each year and the length of the proposed levy,” Buchanan concluded in the ruling.

Keith Kinnaird can be reached by email at kkinnaird@bonnercountydailybee.com and follow him on Twitter @KeithDailyBee.