[0:21] Okay, good evening. I'll call the meeting to work order

[0:25] and we have several different agenda items to take care of tonight and

[0:32] naturally we have two different legal and public hearings and what we're going

[0:37] to do both agenda eyes there's a 5:00 start time we're going to choose to

[0:44] start with the Canyon County Ambulance District fiscal year 2026 budget hearing

[0:51] so uh With that, um, I'll call the meeting to order acting as the board of

[0:57] commissioners for the Kenny County Ambulance District.

[1:01] And so, uh, call to order. So, present is Commissioner Brooks, Commissioner

[1:07] Dani, and I'm Commissioner Bolton again for the record. And so, start with the

[1:13] agenda item, and it's approval of board meeting agenda notice postings. Has the

[1:18] postings been made? >> Yes.

[1:20] » Okay. It's been made. So, do I have a motion

[1:24] to receive the secretary's agenda notice postage report?

[1:27] » Chairman, I move that we accept the agenda.

[1:30] » Second. All right. Motion's been made, seconded to accept the agenda as posted.

[1:34] All those in favor say I. >> I.

[1:37] » I. Motion carries unanimously. So, is there's no need to amen the agenda

[1:42] tonight? >> Nope. All right. So, new business public

[1:47] hearing for teny fiscal year 2025 to 2026 budget. So, I would open the uh

[1:55] public hearing for the tenant budget and it's been posted and is there anyone who

[2:02] would like to address the board on the proposed budget?

[2:11] All right, last call. All right. Being there's none, I would

[2:16] like to have the chief come up and go through the budget presentation as as

[2:23] has been advertised presented and if there's any additional things that you

[2:28] would like to call out and make.

[2:33] So, Mr. Chair, and audience members, thank you for

[2:37] being here tonight to hear the presentation for the county district

[2:41] budget. I'd also like to thank uh all my co-workers, the staff. It's been a

[2:46] really rough year. We've shared a lot of data over the last couple years and

[2:49] they've uh they've carried on through quite a bit of some tough times and turn

[2:53] over and everything and so really appreciate them. Uh and also really

[2:58] appreciate the voters this year. Uh we went out for a couple levy overrides

[3:03] that failed the first few times and it did end up passing. I do have a slide in

[3:06] here that will show a little bit about that and we just couldn't be more

[3:10] thankful for the voters. Uh it is going to be a game changer for for our

[3:14] community from everything from the hospitals, fire, police, everybody's

[3:19] going to benefit from annual service. So this is the long overdue and I think fin

[3:30] that their tax dollars are at work. So, so we really appreciate that. So, start

[3:36] off with uh

[3:42] okay, I always have this slide. I just have four slides, I think, tonight. Just

[3:45] always put this up just so people can have kind of a little bit idea of who we

[3:49] are. We have about 70 paramedics and EMTs on staff. Kind of comes up goes up

[3:54] and down depending on the year. 12 administrative staff. We do have eight

[3:58] ambulances in service each day if we're fully staffed. We have one ALS chase

[4:03] vehicle in Wilder. I just have a single paramedic that responds ambulance and we

[4:09] have nine stations that we function out of and we really work well with the fire

[4:14] department. So you can see we co-house with Middleton, Wilder, Nampa and

[4:18] sometimes we're at the call fire station if we are fully staffed fiscal year call

[4:23] volume. So we hover right around 20,000 uh probably going to be up around 21,000

[4:29] this next year just with growth. So pretty consistent there.

[4:34] So just to put up a little bit of levy override information. I know probably

[4:38] most everybody in this room has seen it because we were all over everywhere news

[4:42] you name it for uh starting at the end of 2023

[4:46] and end of 2024. So we asked for $7.9 million for two years temporary

[4:52] override. We will be back before the voters in two years uh to ask for that

[4:57] to continue on. Uh the main focus was to rebuild the station in Amb torn down to

[5:04] build a new station in Calwell because we haven't built one here in Calwell in

[5:07] 22 years and so we're long overdue for that station. Want to add an ambulance

[5:11] to the station to that station. Had seven paramedics with competitive wages

[5:16] that we're already working on. And then these just last two bullet points are

[5:20] things that people probably don't realize happens. This is some of the

[5:23] data we got really good sharing on monthly basis that people we got a lot

[5:27] of feedback that they couldn't believe some of these numbers. So level zero

[5:31] means there are no ambulances available to take a call and so this data was from

[5:36] July. So 13 times during that month there every ambulance on a call could

[5:40] not go and the number of times that ambulance were shut down. So when we

[5:46] shut down ambulances is typically the one in Middleton one of the n units and

[5:50] the wild unit. So 58 times units were shut down and that's hard to think of

[5:55] but literally without that $1, we would have continued that. So that's hard to

[6:01] fathom that that's the case. We live the reality. So it's it is the case.

[6:08] So here is our fiscal budget for 2026 and it has the 2025 2026 and the

[6:16] difference. So salaries and benefits um you'll see that went up significantly

[6:21] for 2026 because that is part of that those levy dollars. One was to add more

[6:26] staff and then to get competitive wages because our turnover rate much the same

[6:31] as the sheriff's department several years ago was you know as high as 20%.

[6:36] We just couldn't keep people with the wages that we were paying. They'd start

[6:39] with us and off to the next department they go once they're trained. So that's

[6:43] why that went up so much that the tax dollars are paying for that and we're

[6:47] going to be able to retain people and hire more people and then keep them

[6:51] which will actually cause some of those expenses to go down. So uh benefits,

[6:56] same thing. So a total there a budget of $1.9 million

[7:02] down to Budget. Uh so the reason that first capital expenses and purchase went

[7:08] up is because of the stations that we need to build. So that's uh that's a

[7:12] higher number than normal, but that will cover those two stations. Leases went up

[7:17] slightly because we're leasing the space at Middleton fire this year where we

[7:21] have that ambulance service agreements just the typical that goes up.

[7:26] Professionals took our fees. This is part of the reason that one went up

[7:30] because we need to pay fees for the A&E because we're going to build a building.

[7:34] We've got to actually budget for which we haven't had in the past. that

[7:38] definitely raise that line by item. Supply is pretty typical goes up.

[7:42] Telephines went down. Um repair and maintenance just your typical up and

[7:46] down. And then the big one down at the the bottom we have to because those levy

[7:53] funds are going to come in. We usually just zero out our budget. You know, we

[7:57] need to balance. So we have to show what we're going to have in that reserve fund

[8:01] by the end of the year. And that is because we won't expend all those levy

[8:05] dollars the first year. They will carry into the next year to go into those

[8:09] projects that we have budgeted for. So there's your total fiscal year budget.

[8:15] Then down into the revenue to property taxes. That's where you will see the

[8:18] reflection of that temporary override funds came in. That's why it went up by

[8:23] $8 million. The 7.9 plus the 3% that that all goes in there. So that's why

[8:29] that is higher than normal for us. ARPA we will expend all of our ARPA

[8:35] funds in the current fiscal year. So that's why that will be zeroed out for

[8:38] 2026 because those funds service fees we kept um that's the

[8:45] ambulance fees that people pay when they take a trip. We kept that flat because

[8:49] it's gone up and down so much this year that uh we just thought rather than

[8:54] taking it up to do more let's just keep it flat. We want to make sure that we

[8:58] get through our budget in case it goes down slightly. So, we just kept that one

[9:02] flat. Other uh that one went up uh slightly

[9:08] 1.2 $1.4 million. And that is those some possible funds that we can get. Uh

[9:14] there's some Medicaid funds, federal dollars, and we hope those come in.

[9:18] We're not budgeting to to rely on them, but that's why that

[9:23] number is there because of possible that we're really hoping to get, but not

[9:27] necessarily counting on totally to get that.

[9:32] that is so definitely a different one for us

[9:36] just because of the funds the levy funds that like I said we could not be more

[9:40] thankful we're going to be very transparent we move through whether it's

[9:44] building stations hiring staff you know that's going to be on the social media

[9:48] we're going to show the taxpayers each time that we do something that said

[9:52] we're going to do so they can see that we actually are doing what they what

[9:56] they look for that's

[10:05] only one and that it's just more a matter of record on total bad debts

[10:10] makes it look like we're not pursuing those skip that line but that actually

[10:14] includes the contractually adjusted portion which you can't legally pursue.

[10:17] So that's a little bit of a conr that we can't break that out.

[10:21] » Yep, correct. I probably have my top line down through there. So yes, that is

[10:25] an is an odd one. It has to do with the Medicare write offs that we are forced

[10:30] to. It is not something that's sent off to collections. Uh they do dictate what

[10:35] charge for a call and so they dictate what writing off. So that is correct.

[10:39] That is not our department is not doing their job. That's mandated. It's

[10:44] unfortunate, but you got to show it. Thanks for

[10:51] a great job. good about presenting your budget and

[10:56] being fiscally conservative to the point where you didn't take

[11:00] increase yourself for several years dedicated to completing that department

[11:04] and it's tough when you don't have the wages to support that you're correct

[11:08] that turnover is very costly and so we should be able to

[11:14] facilitate >> we're looking forward to keeping people

[11:17] up so the the cos too they they don't like seeing people coming down so we're

[11:22] looking forward to it. That'll be a new day.

[11:26] » Yeah. >> I'm in favor of passing this budget as

[11:30] it's been presented. There's been a lot of work. We met probably more times with

[11:34] the ambulance district than we did any other department or office in Ky County.

[11:39] There's a lot of work that went into this.

[11:44] » We have we spent several quite a few meetings. They're all published in the

[11:49] records.

[11:57] So I would entertain discussion or motion to approve resolution

[12:04] 25-21 year 2025 to 2026 budget.

[12:11] Mr. Mr. Chair, I move that we approve and sign resolution number 2521,

[12:17] the resolution on board county district

[12:22] » as presented. >> I second.

[12:24] » All right. Motion's been made and seconded. All those in favor say I.

[12:28] » I. >> I. I. Motion carries unanimously.

[12:31] All right. So that brings us to the third agenda item and it's to approve

[12:35] the 2025 dollar certification of the budget request to board of

[12:41] board of county commissioners and commonly referred to as the L2

[12:49] and it literally is says L204. So there you go. So I have discussion or a motion

[12:55] to to approve that. Chairman, I move that we approve the L2

[13:01] as presented. >> I second. All right. Motion's been made

[13:04] and seconded. All those in favor say I. >> I.

[13:07] » I. I. Motion carries unanimously. >> All right.

[13:12] Care of the business for this. Uh do you have any closing comment?

[13:16] » I do not. I appreciate. >> We're just I think all of us are just

[13:20] really thankful to be in this position and moving forward.

[13:25] We will we will stay open and transparent as we make those decisions

[13:30] on those stations.

[13:34] » All right, Mr. Chairman, I move that we adjourn. All right,

[13:38] » I second. >> Motion's been made and seconded to

[13:40] adjournment. All those in favor say I. >> I.

[13:42] » I. We are pass the county district board of commissioners.

[13:50] All right. Thank you.

[14:01] So with that we will now I would like to open

[14:09] the Canyon County Board of Commissioners uh meeting. So present is Commissioner

[14:14] Brooks Commission by Commissioner Brad Holton. And tonight on the agenda item,

[14:21] it is a budget hearing for Canyon County, Canyon County Pest Control

[14:26] District and the Melbour District. So we're going to do a public hearing on

[14:31] the Oregon gun increase also will be held in conjunction with county's annual

[14:37] annual budget hearing this evening.

[14:42] So with that um the audience that that came there is a packet and have a a

[14:53] public hearing agenda. So what I'd like to do is welcome

[14:58] everyone here for the the county's portion of the public hearing on the

[15:03] budget tonight. And uh for the audience that's tuning in, we have I don't know,

[15:10] I'm guessing in the neighborhood of what 3540 people in the gallery. And so we

[15:16] appreciate you taking the time to join us by internet.

[15:22] With that, um I would like to ask either of my fellow

[15:28] commissioners if you have an open statement that you care to or just get

[15:33] right into the agenda. I have closing comments, but I prefer

[15:38] just a public. >> You can be a real

[15:44] good >> um I I would you want to pass I have a

[15:49] couple straight public.

[15:53] » Okay. So, I just like to to put on the record that uh everyone in Idaho lives

[15:59] in one of the 44 counties. And these counties range in size from under 7,000

[16:05] people to somewhere above 535,000 people in a single county. And so,

[16:12] Canyon is uh by numbers, you can look one of the higher numbers that is on the

[16:18] internet, it's 267,000 people. I I believe is more than likely

[16:24] above that, but that's that's the data that was was mined off of the internet

[16:30] this afternoon. So, the thing that's interesting about counties is we have

[16:37] many things that are mandated by the state and some of them are not paid for.

[16:44] They are paid for out of our property taxes. And so um it makes things tough

[16:51] as budgets get tight and we are still mandated to perform the services and we

[16:58] are moving towards critical mass on that and I think some of the details of that

[17:04] concern will come out later during the u the presentation and the public hearing.

[17:11] So I just want to to make note of that. Further into the meeting, I'm going to

[17:15] give you some data on uh the jail and the population in the jail and what that

[17:23] cost us as taxpayers. It's probably some information that some

[17:29] people are going to find that's pretty frustrating. But any rate, I am glad

[17:35] that we have got to this point. Uh we have gone through numerous meetings to

[17:42] get to where we are tonight. and they are delineated on the annual

[17:46] packet. This uh same packet that that we're referring to and have printed out

[17:51] is also available on the web page on our agenda as a PDF that was posted earlier

[18:00] this afternoon and before the meeting. So, if you that are tuning in want to to

[18:06] go to the Cany County website, click on that commissioner's agenda page. That

[18:10] PDF is right there on the agenda I have posted for the five o'clock meeting that

[18:16] we are in right now tonight. So with that um I would Is it okay with you too

[18:23] if I open public? >> Yes.

[18:25] » All right. So I would like to open public testimony. Is there anyone in the

[18:30] gallery that would like to address the board of commissioners tonight

[18:35] concerning the budget?

[18:40] All right, last call. All right, I would uh ask that we make a

[18:48] motion to close public testimony. >> Go ahead.

[18:52] » Second. >> Is it full of words tonight? Okay,

[18:56] motion's been made and seconded. All those in favor say I.

[19:00] » I. >> I. Motion carries unanimously. So now

[19:04] we're in the portion of the agenda that is the deliberation to a budget decision

[19:09] and any statements that by each commissioner that they might have. So uh

[19:14] we can discuss priorities for the fiscal 2026 budget or whatever items you have

[19:21] in your statement that you would like to share.

[19:30] » Well, chairman, thank you. This has been a pretty big process. You have indicated

[19:35] that on page seven, that's where you're going to find the data that you

[19:39] referenced, 26 days of budget meetings with more than 65 budget related

[19:45] discussions on the record. So, uh, the board has adopted a philosophy of trust,

[19:50] transparency, respect, and unification, service, and teamwork. So we have tried

[19:55] to the very best of our ability to be inclusive in that process and welcome

[19:59] anyone that wants to come. And to our recollection there was not one citizen

[20:04] that showed up. There were a lot of elected officials, chief deputies,

[20:09] people in the department that were interested in coming that which makes

[20:13] sense. It's a big deal to have a budget, particularly coming out of a previous

[20:17] board where there was a reduction of $14 million, an increase in $9 million of

[20:22] salaries and other ancillary costs that really made it challenging. So, the

[20:27] priorities for this board were to be able to bring stability to the budget

[20:31] while continuing excellence in service and retaining employees. That was

[20:35] important to us. So, thank you everyone that's bothered to come. This is a a

[20:39] less attended meeting, but I think it's a direct reflection of the unity with

[20:44] within the board of county commissioners and really rolling up their sleeves and

[20:48] getting to the job with collaborative efforts between all the elected

[20:51] officials, the added presence of Rick Hob. And then, um, I want to really

[20:56] highlight the efforts of our chief operating officer, Greg Brass. He's

[21:01] dedicated. He's strategic and his leadership he's tenured in the public

[21:04] sector and he understands Fonda County accounting. His ability to lead and

[21:08] network and bring people together has contributed to not only the success of

[21:12] this budget but the overall county operations. So, thank you for that. You

[21:16] deserve a lot of recognition for what you do for Kenyan County and um you've

[21:21] been in government service a long time and and thank you. I also appreciate

[21:25] that that our controller Kyle Wilmont and the clerk have brought together the

[21:31] reflective efforts of the board to retain employees to work together with

[21:37] this to reflect what it is that we want to do to provide stability and at the

[21:41] same time deliver that excellence and service that we talked about. So the

[21:45] dedication of the taxpayer dollars are really evident across county for capital

[21:49] projects, long range planning and retaining employees and the produ

[21:54] productive government is really something I don't want to take for

[21:57] granted. Um inviting is difficult to work in a climate like that. Thank you

[22:02] for helping get some of that worked out. Um but

[22:06] um it's evident across the county with the capital projects. There's a listing

[22:10] of those in there. What the tax dollars are doing from the sheriff's

[22:13] administration building. Um I've heard that there are is a group of people who

[22:17] are wondering why commissioners are not moving more on the geo project. So

[22:22] obviously their lack of attendance at a budget hearing, they're not

[22:25] understanding that we have a women's facility that is phase one underway. I

[22:29] want to recognize Doug Hart as well because without his leadership and his

[22:32] ability to articulate a budget, it would not be the same scenario that we're

[22:37] talking about to move that effort forward. There are long range plans for

[22:40] a public safety facility. We have Chris Boyd here who really does a marvelous

[22:46] job even earlier in the game at representing what prosecution should

[22:50] look like in Kenya County. Thank you. Appreciate that your team. Uh so it is a

[22:54] fantastic team and uh budget is just one part of what 10

[23:00] county commissioners do. Um coming early in 2026, the war county commissioners

[23:06] will be focused on policy. So enhanced services, increased public safety,

[23:11] answering the call of phase one for a jail facility and managing growth,

[23:16] adding to the recreational opportunities in Kenya County. That all contributes to

[23:20] where we're at today. It's a privilege to serve as a commissioner in Kenya

[23:24] County and what we're doing to move this forward to be really a leader in the

[23:29] state of Idaho and what we do. It's our directors are amazing. I appreciate

[23:34] their presence here tonight. All of you that are here if you're not mentioned by

[23:37] name. Uh but you're a great team to work with and as chief operating officer

[23:42] reports back to the board. You're a pleasure to work with. So, thank you for

[23:46] letting me express. I do want to also call out Aaron Williams uh that

[23:50] constituent services position in managing the public interface with the

[23:55] citizens of Kenya County. He's an unsung hero. He has a list of qualifications

[24:00] that is amazing and he brings them to bear here in Kenya County and we really

[24:05] appreciate what's being given for us. So,

[24:15] Good job. You're the best hype man around.

[24:20] Um, Mr. Chairman, I really have prepared remarks other than I appreciate the

[24:24] process that we go through every year. I think the

[24:29] at least I would like to think the lack of

[24:33] folks that have signed up to to give remarks on the budget good, bad

[24:39] or different is indicative of how thorough the process is, how transparent

[24:44] it is um and you know right, wrong or indifferent I like to say but basically

[24:53] by this time through the process which we've gone crew and the numerous

[24:58] meetings that we have held because it's basically cooked, you know. Um

[25:05] I would point out a few of these. I've just been looking through it and think

[25:09] until I sit here, but you can you can see that the overall budget is up and if

[25:14] you look at that that you know instantly can cause you great concern if you do

[25:19] not go through this and actually review what is the cause of that.

[25:24] um you know and and most of that would be centered around the uh the sheriff's

[25:31] budget and rightly so in this case because the sheriff's office building

[25:36] that we need to complete and the female detention facility that um we definitely

[25:42] need to get moved on in my opinion. Um, but if you go through and look at this

[25:48] as far as other expenses on the what we call BB budget side,

[25:54] a lot of these are down and down considerably. And I would give kudos to

[26:00] those of you here in the room that have participated in that. We request that

[26:04] you keep your budgets flat. and if we were going to entertain the idea of

[26:11] adding any employees that you came with um how that employee was going to be

[26:16] paid for and I think at this point we are adding one employee because

[26:21] um because the revenue is covering that other than that you guys have all done a

[26:27] remarkable job um in in crafting your own budgets and working with the board

[26:32] and our in our desire to keep this as wide as we possibly we could, but yet

[26:37] still provide the services that we feel that we need to at the level that the

[26:42] taxpayer expects and is acceptable with. Um,

[26:50] and as Commissioner Bambi said, it is a group effort. It's been very

[26:54] collaborative. Um,

[26:58] we haven't always agreed on everything and I kind of enjoy that sometimes,

[27:02] maybe too much. But, um, yeah,

[27:08] this is I voted to I voted to print this, Mr. Chairman. Um, and I'm still in

[27:14] support of it. I would I would like to potentially make one small change, and

[27:21] it's not up or down. It would be the clerk's gonna love this. Um,

[27:29] we've been holding on to $30,000 out there for uh that loud thing that goes

[27:34] by every day multiple times. I'm not exactly wanting to get rid of

[27:40] that. I would like to uh I would like to move that into the reserve account. At

[27:44] this time, I'm not entirely impressed with or

[27:54] expectant that our city partner is is going to meet us where I would feel

[28:00] comfortable meeting partway with those spots. So I

[28:04] would rather move those into the reserve account that if we were to need them

[28:09] later that we would have them availility.

[28:13] » Okay.

[28:19] » Yes. And fisher, do you mind speaking a little bit about the

[28:25] I guess some of the confusion that's created by the receipt of the ramp arbor

[28:30] funds and then the expenditure of those were the onetime expenses. Can you talk

[28:36] a little bit about that again?

[28:41] » Just I think it's important because there was

[28:46] a lot of rhetoric that was inaccurate information around the ARPA funds that

[28:50] have been receeded. So um there's going the rest of those funds are going to be

[28:54] expended by the end of this year. But it makes the budget look funny. I guess

[28:59] there I don't want to say anything different than that. Oh, it makes it

[29:03] makes it look much larger than it otherwise would be. I mean, if you look

[29:06] here page four, it looks like we're spending

[29:13] Democrats, if you will. My apologies Democrats, but um that

[29:21] number for what everything I understand is is

[29:27] definitely going to go down. we have to expend those ARA funds by the end of

[29:31] calendar year 2026. Um,

[29:36] you know, that's partly why we're we're doing the projects that we are we had to

[29:41] pick something and roll with it. We we had deadlines to meet or we were going

[29:46] to have to get those back. And um you can make the argument whether or not we

[29:50] should have accepted them or kept them or spent them. and uh we've we've chose

[29:55] to keep them and expend them and in ways that we think are going to benefit the

[30:00] citizens of Canyon County as best as we can. So, by building that building, it's

[30:04] going to open up space the rest of the county, the county uh

[30:10] courthouse, uh so that we can potentially remodel in the next three or

[30:15] four years to better serve the public and have have the uh courthouse better

[30:21] arranged. and some of the interest on that money which you know we received 44

[30:25] million we're expending 8 million of that this year but over those years were

[30:29] between the time that we received and the time we were charged it's going to

[30:33] help offset some of the expenses on the sheriff's administration building the

[30:37] revenue still has to be booked to match the expense on that so it's a little bit

[30:42] confusing and the reason that I'm bringing it out is not to confuse the

[30:45] public but to say that that narrative if people don't understand accounting or

[30:51] the history and how we got here. Um, but there just needs to be a statement on

[30:56] there that that's what's happening with the budget is if we had to receive that

[31:01] revenue or to spend it on projects that we've identified.

[31:05] » Correct. And it it is appropriate to point out because it's used as a

[31:10] political weapon against us for again looking like spend

[31:15] commissioners that have now fiscal responsibility.

[31:19] um you know especially come election time. So

[31:25] » right and I mean you can we can we can explain it to local interface some are

[31:31] still going to choose not to not to understand it

[31:35] choose to weaponize it. So it is what it is.

[31:39] » Thank you for the discussion. I want to say too that on the impact fees that's

[31:42] also moving forward. the countyy's allowed to take the impact fees for four

[31:46] different reasons under Idaho state statute and um Darren Williams has led

[31:51] that effort that's going to continue move forward. People ask about that.

[31:55] He's really wellqualified and suited to put that together but um establishing

[32:00] what as particularly as we look at the sher and the jail people think impact

[32:05] fees will pay for that initial and I would I don't think that it will. It

[32:10] won't. And so to evaluate that and establish the plan, we have an impact

[32:15] fee committee in place which again director Williams is in charge of and

[32:19] really we're really proud of his efforts on that. It was what the public was

[32:22] asking for. We're answering that call but that's coming and we'll be more

[32:28] active next year. So chairman too I want to point out on

[32:33] the AR projects which is in there but um Chief Soul talked about the ambulances.

[32:39] So the $2 million was out of the arc funds that commissioners dedicated to

[32:43] serve the public in 911 events. The animal shelter, there has been a lot of

[32:49] discussion around West Valley Humane Society and the county dedicates a lot

[32:54] of inind resources as well as financial dollars to support

[32:59] animals in Canyon County. The new elections building was a huge win.

[33:04] County warehouse that we stopped paying a lease payment. Now, we own the land

[33:07] and we own the building. The residential properties where we're expanding those

[33:13] and making capital purchases is a win for Canyon County. We've acquired a

[33:17] property that will help save taxpayers money for fleet and our facilities as

[33:24] they build a lot of furniture. And then again, the sheriff's administration

[33:27] building really will be a great state-of-the-art emergency operations

[33:33] center and locate our command staff in one place. They're a little bit

[33:36] scattered right now. Building that is, you know, all these facilities are where

[33:41] the statistics are out there. We wanted to ask the sheriff's office to proide

[33:44] those on the year that jail facilities and sheriff's courouses all that were

[33:49] built that they are aging infrastructure and we're answering the call before

[33:55] and building for the future.

[34:00] » Okay.

[34:05] Okay, I do a u Okay, I do a short uh pick up and uh

[34:12] delineate a little bit deeper on the animal shelter society. The county owns

[34:19] the facility. The county does not operate the facility. The West Valley

[34:24] Humane Society operates the facility. the county increased our budget that we

[34:31] give for that nonprofit to operate the facility. We increased our budget

[34:36] $40,000 this year because we felt it was our proportional share of what was

[34:43] needed to uh continue in operation. I know that it may come up in the news a

[34:49] lot and I want to make it clear that for uh this year we put almost a million

[34:56] dollars in ARPA funds and fixing and restoring portions of that building that

[35:02] we didn't charge the humane society for. And so I want to make it clear that even

[35:08] though the keyboard warriors are really upset at different things about the

[35:14] animal shelter, this commissioner knows that we are more than paying our

[35:19] proportional share. Now, that encumbers other municipalities

[35:24] uh about what to do. And I I uh have compassion for those other

[35:29] municipalities because they're working in in budget struggling,

[35:35] throttling positions that the state legislature has put us into. But, um

[35:41] just wanted to make that clear is it is our building, but that's as far as that

[35:47] part goes. What I'd like to do is pivot a little

[35:52] bit and I did a teaser on this at the opening and u why are we now suddenly

[36:02] building a jail and the jail's been before you three times with bond levies

[36:07] that called everything from the Taj Mahal to not needed. Um the state

[36:12] legislature in its infinite wisdom for for many

[36:17] decades and possibly over a hundred years determined that counties run

[36:24] jails. The sheriff runs the jail and where the prisoners and his officers the

[36:30] county commissioners own and maintain the building.

[36:36] It's a It's a strange deal how that all works, but in Ky County, it works

[36:41] flawless. We have a great relationship with the sheriff and and his people. So,

[36:49] real numbers, today's population is 489 inmates. Today, 411 of them are males,

[36:56] 92 of them are females. So out of that population, inmates sentenced to time in

[37:03] the prison today is 55 termers. Today there's 61 parole holds, meaning

[37:11] that they have no other pending charges, but they've done something and they've

[37:16] been thrown in jail. Seven sentenced to a writer. Total is

[37:23] 123 in our jail today. that should be moved to Idaho Department of

[37:28] Corrections. It should be out of here. 18 of those inmates ready to be moved to

[37:34] IDOC are female. 43 of the inmates have a local charge

[37:40] but also have a parole hold and is not able to be bonded down. So these

[37:46] inmates, the state does not have to pay for county health, but it's on a state

[37:53] charge writer that they're in the system, but yet Cany County gets to hold

[37:57] that. So I say thank you to the taxpayers of Canyon County. The state in

[38:04] its infinite wisdom pays Canyon County for the first seven days of

[38:09] incarceration for their prison. they pay $55

[38:16] for the after that they pay $76 a day. So if you if you give them slack and you

[38:25] say well they maybe they only owe us $55.

[38:28] So if you take 55 and today's just a normal day. It's not a it's not a

[38:33] holiday. It's not go on a binge drinking day. It's a normal middle day of the

[38:39] week day. 123 prisoners that should be on the state system. That's $6,765.

[38:48] You multiply that by a year, 365. You come out to, and thank you, Kenny County

[38:54] taxpayers. We're subsidizing the state of Idaho, Idaho Department of

[38:59] Corrections, 2,469,225.

[39:06] and we're sitting here trying to figure out how to get through a budget and that

[39:12] part frustrates me to no end.

[39:18] Moving right along. I have been more than pleased that we

[39:25] asked the county employees, their directors, and the

[39:31] elected officials to hold the budget as best as they can and they've done that.

[39:38] So for this year out in the county

[39:44] we have had a increase

[39:50] of building now I've lost the number

[39:57] chat page

[40:02] we are tonight or today and it's past this since this number was taken we're

[40:06] at 106 6,000 parcels, 593. When I got into office, we were

[40:14] somewhere between 98,000 and 101.

[40:19] So, we're growing. One of the things that's going to be really important for

[40:24] public to get into their mind is this chart here.

[40:30] If you look very careful, it's over several years. 2017 clear ups 2024 does

[40:36] not include this year but look and see where those lot divisions are occurring.

[40:45] News flash the majority of them are not in Kenny County they are within the

[40:50] municipalities. So when we get the ownerous of growth

[40:58] leveled at the Ky County Board of Commissioners,

[41:01] we're not in the driver's seat in the majority of those land divisions and the

[41:06] growth of Ky County. It's within the incorporated municipalities. Another

[41:11] thing that just bores me, a municipality does not does not ever ask permission to

[41:19] annex. The state of Idaho set up that a county

[41:24] has the ground out there in the county and anytime that a city wants to annex

[41:29] in. There's rules on the annexation for them to be continuous, but a city can

[41:33] choose without permission from the county to annex in anything and continue

[41:37] to grow. So what I'm trying to tell you is when you have great frustrations

[41:43] about the growth, please go back and refer to the new subdivision last for

[41:48] municipality. Find out that the county is proportionately very small

[41:54] responsibility. So

[41:58] the other thing that is fascinating is that the value of that growth is

[42:05] somewhere just over $3 billion. And if you take that as a percentage of

[42:11] increase from last year to this year, you go from 37.460,590,000.

[42:21] You go up to 41 billion which is a 9.77% increase.

[42:28] What have we increased our budget? 2.12 growth is not paying for growth.

[42:39] And this track that we're on growth and expenses is going to collide and pass

[42:46] each other and it probably might next year. That's why we're asking everybody

[42:51] to to hold their budgets flat because the way the legislature has written the

[42:57] rules on House Bill 389, 10% of all new growth value has taken off and it's

[43:04] taken off again and again. It is a compound negative effect.

[43:10] It is a very complicated formula. I spent several hours today deciding

[43:16] whether I was going to attempt to describe the club with the formula.

[43:21] I decided that I'm not other than the very simplistic thing that you need to

[43:25] keep in mind is automatically pay for itself because the legislature has

[43:30] instructed that whatever that value is, it's a $100. We can only incur the $90

[43:37] value out of the 100 10% off. Who picks up the other 10%?

[43:42] we do everybody that's living here and we keep getting less and less money to

[43:47] work with to try to provide the services that we provide. The other thing that's

[43:52] fascinating is House Bill 673 further constrain new construction. It's

[43:59] the only business that I know of that you can put you can buy

[44:04] and you can put improvements for several years in a row and sell it and you will

[44:10] never pay for the increased value of what you built.

[44:15] I I'm not aware of another business in the state of Idaho who's allowed to own

[44:19] things for multiple years and put hundreds if not millions of dollars into

[44:24] it and the property value, the taxable value of that is locked in at

[44:32] price of the sweet deal. Maybe one we need to look

[44:37] into with our legislators. I'd like a deal like that with my

[44:41] electronics business. I think it' be great. It'd be wonderful. Maybe I should

[44:46] be a land developer. Nah, I don't think so. Anyway,

[44:53] what what I've experienced going through this is hundreds of people working

[45:00] really hard to tow the line. And I know I'll be asked this simple,

[45:08] this simple question. Did you raise the budget any? And my answer is, yeah, but

[45:14] not proportional to the growth. We raised it a little, but not

[45:18] proportionate to what the expenses will be. Those 3,000 new parcels,

[45:26] we hope they all come with really good people, but the reality is they come

[45:30] with some bad and those bad will enter our system.

[45:34] There's another thing, boy. I can just think of thing after thing that we're

[45:37] mandated to provide to you property tax dollars. Just think of it. Everybody

[45:43] that gets arrested, we help pay for the sheriff. Then we

[45:48] help pay for the jail. Then we help pay for the building that the judges sit in.

[45:54] We help pay for the maintenance and upkeep of that ground. I mean, it just

[45:59] goes on and on and on. and the prosecution. He's a good guy, too. And

[46:04] the prosecution and they did take off the table for the cost of of the defense

[46:10] attorneys, but even that is not as advertised and

[46:15] uh we're still paying on that even though the legislature said that they

[46:19] took it all. But uh they're housed in this building and we've been told that

[46:26] we shall maintain that space for them and we pay all of the electricity, all

[46:30] of the cleaning bills, all the maintenance bills

[46:34] for the next three years if I if I have the numbers right. I could be wrong off

[46:38] a little bit. It's another one of those things that is a unfunded mandate that

[46:45] they make the press with. And yet who picks up the dollar? bill property tax

[46:51] payers. So, I don't like property tax

[46:58] any more than the next guy, but this is the tool

[47:04] by statute that we've be been given to work in and and we're we're doing the

[47:10] best we can and I encourage anyone who has questions in specifics to first

[47:18] listen to that budget category on the audio record. Just go to Cany County,

[47:24] look at the commissioner's page, look at the agenda, and start searching back

[47:29] through that date. Also, on this day's agenda, it will have within this packet,

[47:35] it has all those dates or those meetings. So, you can get right to the

[47:40] right date to the right time, find out the subject that you're most interested

[47:44] in. And so I think that as far as I'm aware of, we have done the very best

[47:51] that we could do to be as transparent as we can be. And so um can somebody have a

[47:59] different opinion than mine? Absolutely. All day long.

[48:04] So, I think that we've done uh an outstanding job and I think that our our

[48:10] workers are some of the best and we've attempted to bring uh them up to market

[48:15] rates which is critically important. You have a employee that's been here for

[48:20] six, eight, 12 years and they're working for $10 an hour as an example and out in

[48:26] the public sector they're working for 14 and we lose that long-term employee at

[48:32] that dollar rate. We will never get them put back in. We have to match what the

[48:37] market rate is. And we've attempted to do that over the last several years. and

[48:43] uh Marty that's our HR director has worked tirelessly with us and so in

[48:50] doing that adjustment we don't have we didn't end up with any

[48:55] extra money for cola which is cost of living entries and a lot of counties and

[49:02] a lot of public entities do colas and I would have loved to have done cola but

[49:07] there wasn't enough funds to do a cola what we did as as Our interrum is our

[49:13] health cost is going to go up. It it hasn't in the last several years, but

[49:19] it's going to go up this year and it will likely continue to go up. And so we

[49:24] voted to give the majority of the employees a $2,300

[49:32] onetime payment. out of the $2,300 each will get a little bit of a variance

[49:39] because their personal tax status will be deducted out of the the $2,300. So in

[49:47] in round numbers, they're getting approximately $2,000 to go towards those

[49:53] increasing health care costs where we weren't able to give a raise. Do I like

[49:58] that? No. It sucks, but that's the best we could do with what we've been handed.

[50:06] And so, um, I I really appreciate the employees, and if I could have had a

[50:12] cola of even a half percent or 1%, whatever that is, I would have tried to

[50:18] have done that, but it was not there to have it. So,

[50:23] my apologies, but I did the best that I know how to do.

[50:31] So that's what I have. Do you have any comments, questions?

[50:35] » Great comments and I appreciate all that you put on the record. That was a lot. I

[50:38] do want to say that in fairness, the wages we've been trying to get to what

[50:45] you've indicated is a fair market for retention. Um, again, Chief Hart is here

[50:50] and we had this conversation during this budget. The amount that we were paying

[50:55] officers was we were somewhere 56% retention. Extremely costly for the

[51:00] taxpayers. Now we're up around 97%. Our numbers across the county are reflecting

[51:05] that we are paying at the right level. And so

[51:10] what we're that's going to say is that our a budget will start. It'll be a

[51:14] neutral next year. We'll we'll punt the season at the same rate we are this

[51:19] year. We've tried to mitigate that a little bit as you indicated on the

[51:22] benefit side because we are looking at something that in the long run I believe

[51:28] will be better and more friendly for the budget and the taxpayer. So wins in

[51:34] there. I I think thankfulness is always a posture when we went through the co we

[51:41] did not lay people off. We did not furlow people. we did not um fail to

[51:48] to do our job. There were some difficult circumstances that were given to this

[51:53] board. A reduction of $14 million by the previous board. I did not vote for that.

[51:59] And an increase in salaries of $9 million. I did not vote for that because

[52:03] I didn't pencil out. Not because we didn't have um the need, but because you

[52:09] have to be able to balance the budget. At the same time during that period,

[52:13] Chief Hart and his words predates him, but his team put together this

[52:18] continuing law enforcement pay schedule for commissioned officers. There's a

[52:22] commitment to support that to keep the command staff and public safety top

[52:26] priority in Kenyon County and we are going to honor that and move forward.

[52:31] There is value in it and the numbers are legitimate and solid. So all of that

[52:37] a tremendous lift for Marty. Thank you for the work that you've done. It

[52:43] it's it's been a great effort on your part and part of the team. So, as you

[52:47] indicated, we've tried to mitigate the some of the downfalls of the budget

[52:54] that we were given, but I think we've done a great job. I am proud to work

[52:58] with Commissioner Brooks, Commissioner Bolton. It's been again a privilege to

[53:02] be a part of this team. They're dedicated. They understand government

[53:06] and they are here to move this county forward. singles is what we share.

[53:13] » Mr. Chairman,

[53:17] » I didn't have it on my public hearing bingo card that you were going to talk

[53:21] more than commissioner, but here we are.

[53:28] I say that I you're spot on. Your comments are are

[53:34] well made. Um you take this position and you

[53:40] understand that you have to play the the hand that you're dealt and good bad,

[53:46] you just got to go forward with it. And fortunately, we have a lot of good

[53:49] people around us uh that are very willing and capable to to do good work

[53:57] and give us a lot of good information, advice on how to put this budget

[54:02] together. So, normally I get a little nervous when we use the word we in this

[54:07] process, but again, like I said earlier, uh at this point, we've had so many

[54:13] meetings and discussions on the record that um it's my opinion, this budget is

[54:18] what it is by the time we get to this point. And I actually appreciate that.

[54:23] I've been coming to these off and on since I think 2016 and

[54:30] I don't mind that it's not as contentious as some of those ones that I

[54:34] came to a decade ago and you know they didn't they didn't follow that same

[54:39] process that we have this year. I think it's very beneficial to to all of us.

[54:46] It is. It is. And and uh you and I attend the Treasure Valley Partnership.

[54:52] Commissioner Van gets to at times. And the price for admission has got to be an

[54:58] elected official. And we were talking in the last two meetings about the turnout

[55:04] in Treasure Valley in our political subdivisions on budget hearing. And it's

[55:10] a weird phenomenon that you are an anomaly. How many people showed up

[55:14] tonight? Let's put it that way. It's not uncommon for nobody to sh that's a sad

[55:20] state of politics. Something that we might

[55:26] another thing that I want to quickly u sometimes numbers are really hard to

[55:31] grasp. So let's let's talk about the growth not this way. So let's say that

[55:37] we have a we have a potluck. Who know who doesn't know what a potluck is? So

[55:43] pot luck is when a group gets together and they say everybody bring enough food

[55:47] for yourself and maybe some some people that are not as privileged as you to

[55:52] have extra food. So you do it for 100 people but the rules somebody else

[55:58] outside the rule said no you only bring food for 90. You're going to have 100

[56:05] people there but you're only bringing food for 90. And you keep doing that and

[56:09] it keeps increasing and that 10% keeps growing to 20%, keeps growing, keeps

[56:14] growing. Pretty soon you're going to be having a potluck and you're going to

[56:18] have to decide what percentage of you is not going to get to eat. That's what

[56:24] house 389 is doing to us. And next year will be the dividing year. And after

[56:31] that, most likely it will be a few less patrolman. There'll be a few less here,

[56:37] be a few less there. And I get it. There's people out there that hate taxes

[56:42] so much that they don't care if the ambulance is not available on those 58

[56:48] times we saw on the screen. They don't care. And there's people out there that

[56:52] don't care if there's one less patrol car, there's one less prosecutor,

[56:56] there's one less whatever that is. And I really would encourage them to

[57:01] reconsider that we have lived really well the way it is now and to start

[57:07] defunding whether it's the police or something else is really not the best

[57:14] method to take. Really isn't. And if you feel that way, why don't you come in and

[57:18] attend some of our meetings and let's try to decide what we maybe could get or

[57:24] we could we could make different choices on. I don't know, but it's going to

[57:28] start coming down to choices. And I wanted to make that painfully clear at

[57:33] this budget hearing because my suspicion is um it's going to be a little bit more

[57:39] difficult this year. And so, not that I'm going to tell you I told you so, but

[57:44] I might tell you I told you so. So, I really love to be proved wrong. Take it.

[57:50] Take it away legislature. Get it done. That'd be great for me. All right. I'm

[57:58] I think enough said

[58:03] I'm interested in if you would like to deliberate towards making a decision on

[58:10] we have three budgets. Um budgets are fascinating. Out of the 44 counties we

[58:17] have more political subdivisions than any other county of the state. The next

[58:22] closest one is Ada County. They have 40ish. We have 64. And what's a

[58:28] political subdivision? Political subdivisions, anything from city, school

[58:33] district, cemetery district, library district. It the list goes on for quite

[58:39] a ways. And so county is pretty pretty blessed. We have we have like nine

[58:45] school districts that encroach into Canyon County, but are outside of the

[58:48] county with their school buildings. Uh we have most

[58:55] of your property taxes have at least seven lines and most of them have more

[59:02] than 10. And that's because where you choose to

[59:06] live is a cross-section of four. You can think of it as this overlay zone. And so

[59:11] you could be in this library district but you should not be in two. You should

[59:16] be in this school district but not two. You should be in a cemetery district,

[59:21] but not to but everybody's in King County's tax district. Everybody's in

[59:28] the ambulance district. And from there, the divisions start. And so even within

[59:35] Canyon County's taxi line, we have just as uh we have multiple ones that are

[59:42] within that mill levy rate. What is a mill levy rate? Mill levy rate is the

[59:48] net taxable value of all of those properties all out there divided by the

[59:54] budget. That's your multiple of what it is. So when you look down through the

[59:59] taxes it says the county is 0135 or whatever the number is. That's the

[1:00:06] rate that you're looking. So you take that multiple

[1:00:10] multiply it against the value net value of the property figure out what the

[1:00:16] exact bill that you pay to county that you paid to the ambulance district or

[1:00:21] you pay to the cemetery or you the library district whoever it is that's on

[1:00:26] property tax. So tonight we're talking about three of

[1:00:31] them, but I don't see Does anybody live here from Melba? See, nobody's here from

[1:00:38] Melba. We're going to be dealing with theirs. You are not going to have that

[1:00:41] on your property. And um so we're going to deal with with three. So which one

[1:00:48] would you like to deal with right away first?

[1:00:52] Let's do the big one. >> Do the big one. All right. So that's

[1:00:55] that's Cany County. That would include like the jail, a sheriff, the uh lastly

[1:01:02] assessor and department of service and and we have a we have a whole we

[1:01:10] have 15 directors. Right. Right. Have 15 directors and you can look this up on

[1:01:15] the internet. We got a great page that shows all of the trees, all of the all

[1:01:20] of the way that lines out who's under who and who does what. And uh and if you

[1:01:28] have an idea how we might be able to do that better, you can get a hold of Karen

[1:01:32] Williams and he'll get on it. And he he's our he's our public guy. We our our

[1:01:40] goal is to try to communicate as most effectively as we can and uh we try.

[1:01:49] So Mr. Chairman, I have a question. >> Yes. Um, we have the dollar amounts for

[1:01:56] these three budgets. Guess normally we have a resolution to go along with them

[1:02:02] to refer to. So I don't

[1:02:07] I don't want to do that.

[1:02:12] We can just approve.

[1:02:28] So, Mr. Mr. Chairman, I would move that we would approve the fiscal year 2026

[1:02:35] budget of 161,870,45

[1:02:44] say 44.

[1:02:48] Okay.

[1:02:52] All three together. >> Okay.

[1:02:56] So there's there's

[1:03:05] uh in included in that Mr. Chairman would be

[1:03:09] I guess we didn't have discussion on this so I just take shot so we can shoot

[1:03:13] it down. Uh that would include moving the 30,000 that was awarded for the

[1:03:19] quiet zone rail crossings to be moved into our reserve fund.

[1:03:26] Um, as well as part of this motion, I would

[1:03:29] move that we approve the uh

[1:03:35] budget for the Canyon County Pest Control of $369,563

[1:03:41] and the budget for Melba Gopher of $12,000.

[1:03:48] Do we need to include the portions?

[1:03:55] Make a motion. >> Okay. I will second chairman or

[1:03:59] commission motion. >> So you read those

[1:04:05] straight off the Mr.

[1:04:11] » Okay. Very good. Okay. And you included your 30,000 if you wanted to change.

[1:04:20] So yes. All right. I entertain a second. >> And I second.

[1:04:24] » You did second. All right. >> All right. Motion has been made and

[1:04:28] seconded for all three of those budgets. All those in favor say I.

[1:04:32] » I. >> I. Motion carries unanimously. So now

[1:04:39] it would be best to Yeah, we had a So now it would be best

[1:04:45] to make a motion to approve separately a motion. You could do all three.

[1:04:55] So once the budget budget

[1:05:00] Mr. Chairman, I move that we adopt uh the L2 worksheets that we have been

[1:05:05] presented for the Canyon County for Canyon County for Noble Go for the

[1:05:12] King County Pest control. >> I second.

[1:05:16] » Okay. Motion's been made and seconded. All those in favor say I.

[1:05:20] » I. >> I. I. Motion carries unanimous.

[1:05:24] All right, Mr. Chairman. Yes. uh in

[1:05:42] so for Mr. on the we've been provided it's

[1:05:47] recovering 1% and I'm in favor of 1%

[1:05:52] 3% 3% would be a larger dollar amount that

[1:05:56] we could use for capital expenses but the 1% amount

[1:06:01] [Music] that goes into the total base that we

[1:06:05] can for next year and considering the uh the decision that was made

[1:06:13] by two when commissioners before we took these seats. U

[1:06:19] I it is my opinion that it it necessitates that we take the 1% for

[1:06:24] them to try to claw back some of that which was not corrected before

[1:06:31] we got here is causing some of the issues that that we are dealing with

[1:06:35] today. Okay.

[1:06:39] And that dollar amount Mr. chairman is $632,693.

[1:06:45] Okay. There was a forgone amount for

[1:06:56] it. Yes. Yes. Yes. So the go is $76 for

[1:07:06] Oh, that's reserved. I'm sorry. >> Yes. That's the

[1:07:13] » text.

[1:07:16] I second the motion.

[1:07:22] » Let's do these because two

[1:07:27] back. So, Mr. Chairman, I move that. >> Okay.

[1:07:34] » Mr. Chairman, I move that the um that we adopt

[1:07:41] portion of the L2 considering recovered for gone of 1% in the amount of $632,693

[1:07:50] for the Ky County budget. >> I second.

[1:07:53] » Okay. Motion has been made and second. All those in favor say I.

[1:07:57] » I. I. Right.

[1:08:04] » So, Mr. Mr. Chairman, I move that we reserve foregone for Mel Gopher in the

[1:08:09] amount of $76. >> I second it.

[1:08:13] » Okay. Motion's been made second. All those in favor say I.

[1:08:16] » I. >> I. I. Motion carries unanimously.

[1:08:21] Mr. Chairman, I move that we reserve uh the amount of $14,182

[1:08:29] and foregone for Kenny County Pest control.

[1:08:33] » I second. Okay. Motion has been made and seconded. All those in favor say I.

[1:08:38] » I. I. Motion carries. All right.

[1:08:58] Do you see anything else that is left?

[1:09:07] We've covered everything that's on the agenda. Is there any closing remarks?

[1:09:26] » I think the clerk has some conation about something.

[1:09:33] Okay, we can test later. Okay,

[1:09:50] » chair move. >> Second.

[1:09:52] » All right, motions been made and seconded for adjournment. All those say

[1:09:56] in favor say I. I motion carries unanimous considering

[1:10:24] So party.

FY2026 Public Budget Hearing

Transcript