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BOCC approves Lakeland deadline extension

ERIC WELCH | Hagadone News Network | UPDATED 8 months, 4 weeks AGO
by ERIC WELCH
Staff Writer | September 6, 2024 1:00 AM

SANDPOINT — On Sept. 3, Bonner County commissioners voted to grant Lakeland Joint School District a two-week extension to the Sept. 5 deadline for submitting tax levy information. 

Lakeland requested the extension to allow the district time to accurately determine its enrollment during the first three days of school before deciding if it needs to run an emergency levy in the Nov. 5 election. 

Lake Pend Oreille School District was granted a similar extension at an Aug. 13 meeting of the board of commissioners. In that meeting, Commissioner Luke Omodt said that extending the deadline for school districts is a standard practice. 

Tuesday’s meeting also included the approval of funds for an autopsy sink and associated attachments to be installed in Bonner County’s new emergency medical services building. 

The $26,950 total includes the cost of installation and will come from the county’s capital construction fund. 

Later, Director of Veteran Services Tom Lindley sought $5,871 in capital construction funds to purchase a collection of furniture items for the department’s office. 

“Veteran Services runs a very sleek budget,” Lindley said. “If we had the funds to pay for it out of our current budget, we would be more than happy to.” 

Commissioner Asia Williams said that the costs of some of the items were “pretty high” and asked if Lindley had tried to procure a desk, one of the requested items, from the county’s existing collection of furniture. 

“I don’t think that this is an appropriate use of capital construction funds,” said Jessica Stephany, county comptroller, at the meeting. 

Both Williams and Commissioner Steven Bradshaw voted to deny the request. Commissioner Luke Omodt, whose resignation will go into effect Sept. 7, was absent from the meeting. 

The commissioners will host their next regular meeting at 9 a.m. Sept. 10 at the Bonner County Administration Building, 1500 U.S. 2. The meeting will be livestreamed on the Bonner County YouTube page at bit.ly/3NElj9X.

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