Bonner County works to keep services high, taxes low

In life, change is the only constant, and throughout Bonner County we have seen a great deal of change over the last year.

Many people are relocating to Bonner County from other more regulated and higher tax states. Impacts are being seen through added traffic on our gravel roads, specifically the collectors and secondary arterials. These roads are seeing an increase in damage from the increase in vehicle traffic which equates to higher than expected maintenance costs. These costs will only increase with increase in population moving the county to look for a longer-term solution that will actually reduce reoccurring costs over time.

Other impacts are being seen with increased calls for EMS services and other emergency services throughout the county. As with the past few years we are also seeing the increase in new home construction in the rural areas impacting our Planning Department as well. We are striving to keep costs down for county taxpayers while keeping the high quality of service we have always provided and have made plans to create solutions with investment now as opposed to kicking the can down the road paying increased maintenance costs and eventually paying a higher cost in the future.

Bonner County EMS crews did an amazing job did an amazing job handling calls during the COVID-19 pandemic. Everything, operationally, changed overnight, from PPE requirements to disinfection of equipment, the world became increasingly complicated. EMS crews rose to the challenge and worked above and beyond to make sure patients were taken care of. EMS just finished up its busiest year with over 4,000 calls for service. 2021 is already running ahead of 2020 from January through March. EMS continues to improve response time in the Blanchard area and are working on plans to build a facility in that location. EMS is also working toward their Time Sensitive Emergencies designation from the state of Idaho, which they should have by June.

Bonner County has successfully managed a self-insured retention program for three years, saving taxpayer funds with lower insurance premiums and having more local control over county matters. Bonner County has continued to increase its investment in safety, compliance and continuous improvement planning, training and operational procedures. Due to these investments Bonner County has experienced fewer claims and lower losses. We expect our exceptional risk control experience to continue in the future. This will reward the residents of Bonner County with lower costs due to losses, especially in the current insurance market, which has seen very large losses for government institutions in other jurisdictions.

In 2020, Bonner County Planning processed 1,322 building location permits compared to 1,077 the year before. The department also assisted property owners to create nearly 400 new lots in Bonner County. The number of land use files will continue to increase in the coming year. 11 conditional use permits, 15 zone changes, and numerous variances were requested this last year. Vacation rental permits continue to be on the rise as we enter the new year. The planning office has gone mostly digital. All of our applications and processes are available online. Applications can be submitted online or through email. Meetings can now be attended virtually through Zoom. The ways to communicate with the planning office continue to increase. Look for new technology advances in the coming year as we identify ways to ease the submittal process through online interaction.

Road & Bridge accomplished several items on our perennial to-do list in 2020: In cooperation with the city of Kootenai, we completed the rebuild and paving of North Kootenai Road and Main Street for a paved connector from Highway 200 to Selle Road. We also replaced an aging bridge out in Gypsy Bay that had been targeted for several years. Because of delays caused by COVID-19 crew scheduling, the Lakeshore Drive hard surfacing was started in 2020 but will be completed in 2021.

The road work schedule for 2021 has not been completely locked in, but we are making plans to complete the rebuild of the gravel section of Woodland Drive and get it paved. The Heath Lake Road intersection on Highway 95 will be closed this year at the request of Burlington Northern by the end of summer. Design work on reconfiguring the Highway 95 intersection of Lakeshore Drive will begin this year for construction next year. That will be a state highway project rather than a county one. We will be beginning to apply dust abatement in May and chip sealing asphalt about July 1st.

In 2020 Bonner County Solid Waste had 466,667 customers visit our 10 attended sites and shipped 44,398 tons of trash to the Columbia Ridge Landfill in Arlington, Oregon. Bonner County’s rapid growth has caused a steady increase in the generation of trash. With this growth the transfer station that was built in 1995 has exceeded the capacity in our solid waste system. We are currently seeking funding opportunities to complete our capital improvements for future growth.

Bonner County officials will continue to work hard to balance the budget, monitor liability, maintain our road system and promote diversity and expansion within our county.

Contributing to the article were Jessi Webster, Business Operations manager, commissioner’s office; Commissioner Dan McDonald; Steve Klatt, Road and Bridge director; Christian Jostelin, risk manager; Milton Ollerton, Planning director; Scott Bauer, attorney, Prosecutor’s Office; Jeff Lindsey, EMS direcor; and Bob Howard, Solid Waste director.