SANDPOINT — City council members voted Wednesday evening in a 4-2 vote to postpone the tentative approval of the city’s 2026 fiscal year budget until July 30 to allow elected officials an appropriate amount of time to review a tentative budget amount.  

The approval was slated to occur during Wednesday’s city council meeting where councilors were expected to vote on a maximum budget amount of the city for fiscal year 2026. However, approval does not mean that the budget has to meet the maximum approved amount, only that it cannot exceed that amount. 

As it stands, the tentative budget cap is proposed at $49,927,665, a 1.13% decrease from the 2025 fiscal year budget. 

The motion to postpone the maximum budget amount approval was proposed by Councilman Kyle Schreiber and seconded by Councilman Justin Dick. The motion earned additional support from councilmembers Deb Ruehle and Pam Duquette.  

“This is the busiest time of year for a lot of us, and there was a lot of information moving forward. And I would like to take the next couple of weeks and do a deeper dive and have more staff time before approving this,” said Dick.  

Schreiber agreed with Dick’s comment and alluded to statements made during public comment by former Sandpoint mayor Carrie Logan, in which she discussed city trees, sidewalks and wages. 

“I think what I have to say has already been said pretty eloquently, but I would point out that we had a former mayor just speak in public comment, that if we were to do what she recommended that we do, we would not be able to approve the maximum today. So, I think there are questions that still need to be answered,” said Schreiber. 

Logan suggested allocating funds to planting trees and designating money for city sidewalks and bike paths. She also claimed that employees in admin positions should not receive cost of living adjustments because “they are way overpaid.” She also proposed that council members receive a salary of $12,500 and that the mayor receive a salary of $50,000.  

Council members in opposition of postponing the tentative budget, councilmen Rick Howarth and Joel Aispuro, shared different concerns, suggesting that the delay of approval could run the council close to the Aug. 20 budget approval deadline.  

“I am worried about the timeline; things happen. And again, I think the intent in this is simply to go set a maximum (budget) number,” said Howarth. “All of the detail work can happen over the next two, three, four, five or six weeks. I think that's plenty of time for us to dig into the details, to have the conversations that we need to when we have questions and not put at risk the Aug. 20 date that we have to go hit to go approve the budget.” 

Proceeding the maximum approval amount, the board would hear city departments present specifics of their respective budget before determining the best allocation of funds per department. 

Due to the postponement of the tentative budget approval, council members will have until July 30 to review the proposed budget. In the meantime, officials will have the opportunity to listen to city department budget presentations before deciding on the maximum budget amount.  

A full report of Sandpoint’s proposed budget can be found here: https://bit.ly/4nM5iOU.