City rejects petition to disband BID

SANDPOINT — The latest attempt to do away with downtown Sandpoint’s Business Improvement District has ended in failure.

A petition aimed at disbanding the district was rejected by the city because of numerous irregularities and insufficiencies, according to city documents.

The eight-year old district, which is overseen by the Downtown Sandpoint Business Association, requires businesses within the downtown core to pay anywhere from $10-65 per month toward various beautification and promotional programs.

Downtown business owner Cornel Rasor, who also serves as a Bonner County commissioner, has opposed the BID since its inception. Rasor recently submitted a petition signed by what he claims are more than 50 percent of the district’s business owners that asked the city to disband the BID.

Under Idaho Code, a BID can be disbanded if the businesses in the district which pay a majority of the assessments agree to do so.

After eight days of deliberation, the city ruled the petition was invalid. According to an explanation letter from the city, the petition was rejected because it did not use bonded paper, did not have printed names next to the signatures and contained signatures from non-business owners, among other reasons.

Rasor said he disagrees with the ruling, but has no plans to appeal or instigate legal action against the city.

“They know I’m a little guy and I can’t afford to litigate against them, so I’m not going to,” Rasor said.

Rasor also said the city used a double standard when judging his petition. He claims the architects of the original BID petition broke many of the rules that his was rejected for, including using signatures that were more than 75-days old.

“It’s the golden rule: He who has gold makes the rules, so there’s nothing I can do about it,” Rasor said.

DSBA manager Kathleen Hyde reviewed the petition and agrees with the city’s ruling.

“What I saw were signatures of people who no longer had businesses, businesses that were closed, unauthorized signatures — some weren’t even managers, just store employees — illegible signatures, duplicate signatures, and even signatures of people who are now deceased,” Hyde said.

While he will abide by the city’s ruling, Rasor said he will not give up his fight to disband the BID. Despite his added duties as a county commissioner, Rasor said he plans on starting a new petition and will begin collecting signatures in his free time.

“I have to do on my own time. I don’t have a lot of that, but I have enough,” he said. “I don’t sleep very much.”