By Zach Hagadone
Reader Staff
The fiscal year 2025 Sandpoint city budget is on the agenda for the regular Wednesday, Aug. 21 meeting of the City Council, with a public hearing and potential decision.
Officials unveiled the preliminary budget on July 17, when councilors unanimously approved the maximum appropriation of $50,499,054, which is $2,475,215 less than the FY24 budget, representing an overall 4.67% reduction.
The council again heard presentations on the budget at its Aug. 7 meeting, when department and division heads gave individual overviews of their budgets.
Capital improvement projects in the budget rise to a total of $23,261,500. Big-ticket items include the design and planned upgrades/replacements to the wastewater treatment plant, a short-term rehabilitation of the Bridge Street bridge; and Phase 3 of the downtown revitalization project focused on rebuilding First Avenue from Bridge to Lake streets, as well as improvements to Superior Street.
Other projects include realignment of Ontario Street at Highway 2 to improve visibility and shorten crossing distances for pedestrians at the intersections; sidewalk and bike path projects along Fourth Avenue south of Superior to Pacific Street; reconstruction of Cedar Street from Division to Lincoln Avenue; high-dollar improvements to the Great Northern corridor; and a range of street projects, among others.
According to the transmittal letter from Mayor Jeremy Grimm, “We will face significant challenges in future budgets to repair and maintain our basic infrastructure without fundamental changes to identify new revenue sources.”
In his letter, Grimm noted that despite the overall decrease in the budget the city will invest heavily in critical infrastructure projects — including the planned rebuilding and paving of priority streets, “with total street and sidewalk spending increasing by 87% to $8,952,706.”
Meanwhile, wastewater project spending would increase 27% to $7,294,375, which includes the preparation of the preliminary engineering report for the replacement of the wastewater treatment plant, which councilors voted unanimously to award to engineering firm Keller Associates at the Aug. 7 meeting (see Page 5).
In addition, various wastewater collection improvements — including water main replacements and other improvements to the city’s water system — would increase spending on those projects by 97% to $3,752,016.
Based on the preliminary budget, Sandpoint estimates it will levy $5,131,368 in property taxes in FY25, representing $336,649 more than FY24.
Preliminary new construction is valued at $58,810,689, with 90% of that value available for levy purposes, resulting in projected property tax revenues of $138,017. City Treasurer and Finance Director Sarah Lynds said in July that those figures represent “about double what we’ve seen in past years.”
The public hearing and potential vote for final adoption are scheduled for the Aug. 21 meeting in the City Hall Council Chambers (1123 Lake St.), which begins at 5:30 p.m..
“At the next meeting we will do more of a high-level, budget-to-budget, year-to-year kind of [analysis of] the trends, the different funds,” Lynds said on Aug. 7.
View the online budget book, which includes narratives of FY25 projects, maintenance and operations at bit.ly/467YXVg.
Watch a recording of the Aug. 7 budget presentation at the city of Sandpoint’s YouTube channel, with that portion of the meeting beginning at the 1:37 mark.
To attend the Aug. 21 meeting remotely, go to sandpointidaho.gov and click on “meetings” on the homepage.
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