Lake Pend Oreille levy dispute heading to court

A dispute over a North Idaho school levy election appears to be headed to court.

A local resident has filed a lawsuit contesting a recent Lake Pend Oreille School District supplemental levy election, and the district will contest the issue in court, the Bonner County Daily Bee reported.

In November, voters narrowly approved a permanent, $12.7 million-a-year supplemental levy for Lake Pend Oreille. Districts can seek an indefinite levy if voters have approved a levy for at least seven years, and the property tax measure accounts for at least a fifth of the district’s budget.

But as Idaho Education News reported in November, Lake Pend Oreille’s election appeared to violate state law, since the ballot did not outline the levy’s cost to taxpayers.

In a Dec. 23 lawsuit, Don Skinner is asking a judge to void the election results, and prohibit the district from collecting the levy, the Daily Bee reported.

“We feel the results of the election would not have been different had the per $100,000 tax cost been included on the ballot itself, and that the will of the majority should not be overturned for what was a technical error,” district trustees saidin a statement earlier this month, according to the Daily Bee report.

 

Kevin Richert

Kevin Richert

Senior reporter and blogger Kevin Richert specializes in education politics and education policy. He has more than 30 years of experience in Idaho journalism. He is a frequent guest on "Idaho Reports" on Idaho Public Television and "Idaho Matters" on Boise State Public Radio. Follow Kevin on Twitter: @KevinRichert. He can be reached at [email protected]

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