AG: Sidewalk reimbursement illegal

SANDPOINT — An Idaho deputy attorney general is recommending that the city not reimburse landowners who installed sidewalks prior to the demise of a local improvement district which would have taxed property owners for the improvements.

Deputy Attorney General Mitchell Toryanski said reimbursing the landowners with public funds would be illegal and could constitute misuse of public funds, a felony offense. Toryanski's take on the reimbursements mirrored that of City Attorney Will Herrington, who has repeatedly advised the council not to honor the residents' claims because doing so would be legally improper.

City code requires individual landowners — not the public at large — to pay for installing or improving sidewalks adjacent to their property.

"In summary, the advice provided by your City Attorney that property owners not be reimbursed for sidewalk replacement is sound," Toryanski said in an Aug. 6 letter to Mayor Gretchen Hellar.

Last month, the City Council decided on a split vote to reimburse eight landowners who installed sidewalks in anticipation of the local improvement district, which the council ultimately declined to enact in March.

The landowners said they had the work done because city officials suggested doing it privately would likely cost less than if the work was done through the LID.

But the council's decision to approve the $17,583 in claims was contingent upon a review by the Attorney General's office. As a result, the checks to the claimants have not been cut.

After reviewing the AG's remarks on Wednesday, the city's Public Works Committee opted to forward the matter to the City Council without a recommendation.

"The full council — even if they had made a recommendation — would still have to act," Mayor Gretchen Hellar said on Thursday.

The council is expected to take up the reimbursement question at its regular meeting at 5:30 p.m. Wednesday, Aug. 20.

Hellar, who agrees with the legal advice the city has been given, empathizes with frustrated landowners.

"They're upset and I don't blame them," she said. "But if we all just take a deep breath and realize that we're all trying to do the right thing."