New petition to disband BID making rounds

SANDPOINT — An initiative to kill the business improvement district has been resurrected by three local business owners, including a Bonner County commissioner.

A similar initiative died last spring after the city rejected a petition to dismantle the BID because of irregularities, including signatures from non-business owners, as well as objections to the type of paper the petition was printed on.

A forum to address opposition to the BID is scheduled from 5:30-7:30 p.m., Feb. 24, at the Panhandle State Bank community room.

In a recent letter sent to more than 350 business owners within the business improvement district, Chris Park of Misty Mountain Furniture is once again asking business owners to sign a petition to scuttle the BID.

The improvement district is comprised of more than 400 businesses located downtown and along the main arteries surrounding the downtown area.

Park, along with Bonner County Commissioner Cornel Rasor who owns Army Surplus on Fifth Avenue and Rich Curtis owner of Exit Realty, oppose the taxes that the district levees on businesses.

They argue that the money they pay — Park said he pays $600 annually to the BID — doesn’t bring a financial return to their businesses.

Approximately $1 million has been generated by the BID since inception 10 years ago, said Park.

“Half of that going to an office, phones, benefits, paychecks etc.,” he said. “I don’t want to be viewed as adversarial to business interests, but it’s an objectionable tax.”

Kathleen Hyde, the downtown manager of the Downtown Sandpoint Business Association and the only employee whose salary is paid through funds collected under the BID, said her office is responsible for keeping the downtown area viable, for aesthetic improvements that draw people to Sandpoint, for marketing the downtown area and for organizing the majority of events including this month’s Mardi Gras.

Before the DSBA, she said, business owners did not have representation at City Hall. Since its inception a decade ago, the group and its collective members have earned the respect of the council.

“We have a lot of clout,” Hyde said.

Chris Bessler, president of Keokee Publishing on Church Street, agrees.

“The organization does a lot of work for downtown businesses and gets a ton done,” Bessler said. “It represents specific interests of downtown in issues that come up.”

A plan by the city to rezone the commercial area is among current issues that DSBA is involved in, he said.

“It will have a big impact,” he said. “The businesses have DSBA to represent them on these kind of issues.”

Planted between Misty Mountain and Army Surplus, Frank Thieme has operated Cycle Haus on Fifth Avenue for almost 40 years. He has seen plenty of changes in the local business community in those years, he said, but the taxes imposed on owners in the BID have been the most egregious.

“These are bad times,” Thieme said. “There are people closing their businesses all around here, and there are empty shops all over.”

The tax imposed on owners in the business improvement district isn’t helping.

“That’s not friendly,” he said. “That’s not the Sandpoint we know.”

Sands and Bessler, however, agree on one thing: They are both urging business owners to attend the Feb. 24 forum.

“Hopefully we’ll get businesses to come,” Bessler said.

“They can make a judgment themselves if this organization is worth having.”