SANDPOINT — The Sandpoint City Council made several changes to the fiscal year 2026 budget at Wednesday’s meeting, including moving funding to increase funding the Selkirks Pend Oreille Transit bus.

The council voted 4-2, with councilors Joel Aispuro and Rick Howarth dissenting, to move $40,000 of funds for emergency repairs on leased buildings to fund SPOT. This change brings the SPOT funding to $145,000, $5,000 short of the previously requested $150,000. 

“We were trying to get as close as we could to that $150,000 mark,” Councilor Justin Dick, who serves on the SPOT bus board, said. “The board crunched the numbers and $145,000 will work.” 

The changes made at Wednesday’s meeting will not be finalized until the council adopts the budget at its Aug. 20 meeting.  

Dick led the initiative to fund the organization. He said that this funding would get SPOT through the rest of 2025 and 2026, which will allow the city more time to potentially find a more consistent revenue source for the organization. 

Mayor Jeremy Grimm and Dick mentioned the fee revenue generated from Sandpoint’s new parking management plan, could be a potential funding source for SPOT in the future. 

Both Aispuro and Howarth were against the city fully funding SPOT, citing numerous reasons. Aispuro said that the citizens of Sandpoint never got a say in the city funding SPOT and that moving this funding does not match what residents want. 

"Nothing is free, I have not supported the SPOT bus since I’ve been on council,” Aispuro said. “It is not our responsibility as a city to use that money, taxpayer monies, to give people free rides. I understand that it helps people, I think there’s a better way to go about it.” 

Grimm clarified that the revenue being moved is generated by a city lease, which could be viewed as taxpayer dollars, and the almost all of the rest of SPOT’s funding from Sandpoint comes from the local option tax on lodging. 

Councilor Kyle Schreiber, who voted to move the funds, said that he’s lived in many places with great bus services which succeeded thanks to proper funding. He said that these services often have a watershed moment where the bus becomes the fastest and most convenient way to get around town. 

"The sentiment that we are hearing in the community is that ‘Oh, it’s not convenient for me, why are my tax dollars being spent on that,’” Schreiber said. “The cure to that isn’t to take money away from it, it’s to put more money toward it so we can get to that watershed moment.” 

Howarth said while he is for public transportation, he is not for free public transportation. He advocated for SPOT to charge for its services and said that SPOT isn’t a city service that everyone uses.  

“I travel all over the world, I use public transportation, I have never ever seen free transportation, there has always been a fee,” Howarth said. “There ought to be some amount generated from user fee.” 

SPOT Bus Executive Director Donna Griffin previously said that any revenue created from fares would not count toward matching funds for grants, which is SPOT’s primary funding source.  

“Whenever we pull in fares ... it cannot be used for match,” Griffin told the Daily Bee last month. “It has to be used off the top and then the grant funding kicks in.”   

City Council President Deb Ruehle said that she felt that $40,000 was a small amount for the city to move, one time, considering the service and benefits SPOT brings to Sandpoint. Councilor Pam Duquette agreed and said she is very supportive of SPOT and public transportation. 

Dick said that with the changes coming to downtown parking, the city needs SPOT’s services more than ever. 

"The demand from the community is how do we take care of our bicycles, our pedestrians, our parking and I don’t think we’ve heard that more than where we are right now,” Dick said. “SPOT checks every one of those boxes.”

Griffin said the increase was excellent news and that the dialogue that facilitated the increase has been helpful for SPOT.

"Everyone examining this and making the best service for public transit has been a fantastic effort," Griffin said. "This is great for all our partners."

The City Council will hold its final budget workshop and a public hearing on the budget Aug. 20 at City Hall at 5:30 p.m.