HAYDEN — The Hayden City Council approved its 2023-24 budget Tuesday and considered raising impact fees for developers.

Amid ongoing budget talks, council members opted to delay approval for the sake of transparency on a clerical change.

"Overall, I would say this budget is very similar to last year's budget," City Administrator Brett Boyer said. “But when you look at the projects that we’re doing, that kind of changes the perspective.”

The $8.9 million budget includes an increase of $543,000 for a police levy that was passed by voters in November.

“The amount that we agreed to with the citizens on the base budget increase is in there,” Boyer said. "We anticipate from the sheriff’s office that they said they would provide the 10 officers. If something changes, we can change what we do. But it is in the budget as discussed.”

A draft of a contract with the Kootenai County Sheriff’s Office was received while council members were discussing the budget. It was not received in time to be reviewed for approval and will likely be in an upcoming meeting.

The budget also includes staff cost of living adjustments and a 3% increase in property tax revenue, which is the maximum amount a government budget can be expanded through property taxes and could affect property owners' tax bills.

The council members also heard a recommendation by an advisory committee to raise impact fees, but tabled the issue. Councilman Ed DePriest asked staff to put numbers together that showed the maximum allowable impact fees with some examples of the cost to businesses.

“Council always has the opportunity to collect the maximum amount or collect something less than the maximum amount,” Community Development Director Donna Phillips said.

Council members expressed support toward the idea of raising impact fees, but wanted more information before deciding to raise them.

“I wouldn’t mind taking more time to look at this one more time and just doing some math,” Councilwoman Sandra White said.

The advisory committee's recommendations fell slightly below the maximum allowable increase in commercial projects and was at the maximum allowable rate for residential projects.

“We have a lot of road upgrading to do and, with growth, it causes more issues with congestion on our roads,” Council President Matt Roetter said. “My feeling is that I would like to get as much as we can.”

Impact fees are one of the tools the city has to gain revenue without raising taxes, Roetter said.

“We have impact fees, which shifts the burden of the cost of growth to people that move here,” he said. “And that’s kind of where I prefer to have it.”

*A photo caption for this story was updated to correct Jeston Perez's name.