With all due respect . . . .

I read in the paper this morning that it was voters' concern over taxes that defeated the school levy this past Tuesday. Duh! I wondered several months ago, with all this talk and fear about tax increases, why the folks that ran the levy shot for the sky (relative terms, of course, compared to recent levies) in launching this year's public vote for education in Lake Pend Oreille School District, and why they didn't stick with the moderation that has led to successful levy elections in the past few years.

I think they meant well and that they rightfully recognized that we had some definite needs to be addressed here in the district. Over the past couple of years, watching local and county governmental entities open the door for anyone and everyone to move in here, dig up the place and "develop" the heck out of it, has made me wonder if our infrastructure----schools, utilities, roads, etc.----would soon be facing some desperate measures to keep up with the needs for all those people projected to be moving in here.

It seems ironic to me that the advertising of Bonner County for sale all over the country and the inflation of local real estate have created the very problem that the our power brokers are now trying to solve. The paper said concern over taxes led voters to defeat the election. Hasn't this concern over tax bills evolved from an inflated real estate market, which, in turn, drove up the assessments? Now, we hear the real estate market has gone in the tank. I don't think our assessor caused that problem.

We hear that many of those parcels with realty signs, once hoping for big windfalls, now have "price reduced" signs slapped across the front. What's that going to do to Bonner County tax assessments? Are tax assessments going to be substantially decreased this time next year, thanks to the actions of the recent special session of the Idaho Legislature and because of all those price reductions? Will those parcels sell, even with the prices reduced?

Now that the real estate market has reportedly crashed, what will happen to all those once-pastoral acreages turned piles of dirt, to be readied for the big influx? Will all the developments in our county fill to the brim with rich taxpayers who will feed the public coffers? And, when the public coffers start overflowing from generous tax payments, will we be able to improve the infrastructure enough to support all those folks we've invited to live in our North Idaho Shangrila?

These are perplexing questions, and it will be interesting to see where we're headed in the next year or two. Whatever the case, I know, from personal experience over many decades of other local levy defeats, that quality education will continue in East Bonner County and that the people who do the educating will not let a real estate market or tax assessment concerns get in the way of providing the best they possibly can for our young people.

That's the good news of the day.

Update: I guess after seeing the article on this link, I must change my assessment of the real estate market. Apparently, until this appeared in today's New York Times, it was more accurate to say the market has been in a temporary holding tank. Hold on to your seats and your land. What's gonna happen after millions read the following: http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/08/realestate/08havens.html?_r=1&oref=slogin