SANDPOINT — A boundary line adjustment between the county's two library districts was formally approved by Bonner County commissioners at a meeting last week to approve the issue.

The proposal realigns the boundary line between the East Bonner County and West Bonner library districts to match those of the Lake Pend Oreille and West Bounty County school districts. While the measure was unanimously approved by the two library districts Aug. 20, 2024, that decision needed to be codified by the commissioners. The Board of County Commissioners approved the measure in a unanimous 3-0 vote.

The adjustment affects, in rough terms, residents in the area from Settlement Road, extending to the Thama area along the straight stretch before Priest River and a section of Dufort Road.

"The residents of Priest River that gained all of their services from Priest River were paying their taxes to East Bonner and because of the library services and because of so many things, it was just inequitable," West Bonner Library District director Meagan Mize told Bonner County commissioners. "We thought that was fair and equitable was to change the boundary lines to the school district lines."

The measure had prompted some concern about potential impact on the two library districts' respective budgets — and taxes assessed on residents of both East Bonner County and West Bonner library districts.

"If the East Bonner County Library District becomes smaller, is the budget going to get smaller along with it or will the tax increase for the East Bonner County residents because there will be less people paying into that," Commissioner Ron Korn asked.

The answer is a bit of an unknown and may continue to be so for the short term, officials from both library districts said.

"The truth of the matter is that we are not sure how this is going to impact us until the county and the state float it all out," Mize said.

At this point, neither library district plans to adjust its rates to give both West Bonner and East Bonner a chance to see how the change actually impacts the revenue coming into each district.

"Our levy rates are very, very, very close so it should be a very minimal distribution," Mize said.

While there will be fewer households paying into the East Bonner district, board member Joan Terrell told commissioners that the district does not plan to change its levy rate and, like the West Bonner district, is waiting to see how the change affects the amount received in tax revenue.

While the libraries' proposal set the effective date of the boundary line adjustment at Dec. 31, 2024, county commissioners set the effective date of the adjustment to Jan. 15, 2025 — the date it was approved by commissioners.

Previously, the EBCLD boundaries were set to match those of the Pend Oreille Hospital District when the Sandpoint-based library district was formed in 1974. The West Bonner Library District dates back to 1987 when the Priest River Library formally became a public library.

"We just basically took up the boundary lines," Mize said. "That was kind of around the school district split but it wasn't really a thought. It was just, 'We're going to get this district together.'"

However, the varying boundaries set the stage for the recent confusion as some residents in the West Bonner County School District also fall within the Pend Oreille Hospital District, which includes Bonner General Health.

The problem lies, Mize said, in that the residents most often used the West Bonner libraries but paid taxes to the Sandpoint-based EBCLD.

That has been a source of frustration for both residents and West Bonner Library officials for years.

"I have numerous neighbors, constituents, who have, over the years expressed ... frustration that their kids go to school in Priest River in the West Bonner County School District and just their proximity, their addressing, everything is related to Priest River," Commissioner Brian Domke told fellow commissioners. 

The change will also improve representation of residents in the transition zone being folded into the WBLD, Asia Williams noted. Until this change, because they were officially part of the Sandpoint-based district, they could not vote in West Bonner elections or run for office on the library board because their address fell within the Sandpoint-based Bonner County Library District.

"They don't get a say in what happens in their neighborhood," Williams said. "And so, that's a big part of what West Bonner County has dealt with. And so there'll be a financial adjustment based on the people but it makes it more equitable."