COEUR d’ALENE — More cities are weighing in on Kootenai County’s request that they withhold building permits unless they receive proof of payment for proposed county impact fees supporting the sheriff’s office, jail and parks and waterways.

Commissioners Leslie Duncan, Bruce Mattare and Bill Brooks made the request in letters sent July 26 to a dozen Kootenai County mayors.

“This word ‘impact’ is deceiving,” Athol Mayor Bill Hill said Tuesday. “When they discuss impact, they’re not referring to people moving into the county but ways to go after money, whether someone’s been here 40 years or four days.”

The Athol City Council will ultimately make the call, Hill said, adding that council members are currently “dead against” Kootenai County’s proposal.

Hill previously broke a tie vote in favor of collecting impact fees on behalf of Timberlake Fire Protection District. In Idaho, fire districts don’t have ordinance authority and need a jurisdiction like a city or county to adopt an ordinance in order to collect impact fees.

“It’s a good thing and a bad thing,” Hill said. “The good thing is it slows down growth because you pay dearly to build a building.”

The mayors of Coeur d’Alene, Rathdrum and Post Falls have pushed back on the county’s proposal, saying they believe it’s unfair to ask new city residents to fund construction of both city and county park facilities while new residents in unincorporated areas don’t contribute to the costs of city park facilities they may also use.

Though the city of Hayden has not yet formally responded to the county’s request, city officials share some of the concerns already expressed by the mayors of Coeur d’Alene, Rathdrum and Post Falls, as well as an openness to compromise.

“We’re willing to sit down and listen to the county,” said Hayden City Administrator Brett Boyer. “I think there’s some common ground, particularly with the jail, but we’d like to discuss further with the law enforcement request and the parks request.”

The fees proposed by the county assume the collection of sheriff’s office impact fees “proportional to the degree to which each city relies on KCSO’s services for law enforcement and dispatch services,” according to the county.

Impact fees for the jail, as well as parks and waterways, would be collected from growth in the unincorporated areas and all incorporated cities.

Other municipalities, including Hayden Lake, have not yet formulated responses to the county.

Dalton Gardens Council President Tyler Dreschel confirmed that Mayor Dan Edwards has received the county’s letter, but is traveling out of the country and hasn’t had the opportunity to review it in-depth.

Edwards plans to discuss the county’s proposal at a future meeting.

Proposed fees are:

• $2,195 per residential unit or 58 cents per non-residential square foot for all growth except Coeur d’Alene, Hayden Lake, Post Falls, Rathdrum and Spirit Lake
• $1,337 per residential unit or 28 cents per non-residential square foot for growth in Coeur d’Alene, Hayden Lake and Spirit Lake
• $1,160 per residential unit or 25 cents per non-residential square foot for growth in Post Falls and Rathdrum