It's good enough to power two local school districts, why not EMS?

For the electorate, temporary taxes offer flexibility in an uncertain world, a permanent tax is a straight jacket.

Sometime over the summer, the trustees of the EMS taxing district fumbled a decision to go for a permanent tax levy instead of a tried-and-true funding mechanism that is more flexible for the patron and easier to pass (no football pun intended). We might have to go to the polls for a fourth time as a result.

Hindsight is always 20/20, but when it comes to predicting the long term future, we may as well be Mr. Magoo.

The Magoo reference will get a smile from my generation. But if you are drawing a blank, substitute Dory, the fish from Finding Nemo. You wouldn't want either one advising you on what's going to happen tomorrow, or even in the next hour, much less managing your financial horoscope.

Coming in the next two weeks:

EMS Series

• The Raucous Creation of the County's EMS District

• The Apocalypse Model

• When a ‘No’ Vote Doesn’t Mean “Hell No”

In recognition of the unpredictability of our current world, allow me to introduce you to an old friend of mine: the Temporary Tax. Me and TT go way back. My marriage is really a T-some: Tom, Tomi and TT. When we ran the newspaper, we just couldn't shut up about this public financing approach. But apparently, in spite of our efforts, it remains misunderstood. So, please allow me to redundantly sing its praises again.

TT always gets a cringe from public agencies. I guess the 'tude comes from its popular name "temporary tax" or more specifically "two-year levy". Those monikers imply instability and a certain lack of taxpayer commitment. And that scares the hell out of proponents of tax initiatives. For example, in August, the Star-News ran a story headlined EMS to Try Again for Levy Override, quoting one of the fire chiefs:

"I can’t do anything with a temporary levy. I can’t hire, I can’t make our wages marketable."

That's big news to the Cascade School District and the Meadows Valley School District, both of which have been merrily operating on temporary levies for decades. The budget of the Cascade school district is nearly four times what the EMS budget will be if their proposed levy passes. It is also infinitely more intricate, with large facilities, hundreds of students, bus systems, etc. Many of the New Meadows administrators and staff have been around for their entire careers. Do you think that these communities would entrust the future of their children to an unstable funding strategy?

In my first post, I singled out The Cascade School District as having an exceptionally low turnout (18%) in a recent election. I failed to notice that the election I cited was their bi-annual renewal levy. Low turnouts in elections are usually a sign of public detachment or a sense of powerlessness. But in this case, could it be a sign of trust between patron and management? I doubt that the Cascade school district is run by a terrorist organization that they're all afraid of. More likely it’s trust. In our coverage of both Cascade and MV districts, I always picked up a vibe of intense pride and ownership in their schools...call it a collective case of community kumbaya.

(I would love to hear from the patrons of Cascade and MV schools. Is my observation right? If not, I can handle the truth).

Here's why I think it works:

Every two years, voters are invited to evaluate each school district's budget. Far from being a volatile, tense exercise, the regular interaction between district trustees/administrators and their patrons seems to reflect credibility and collaboration in the business of educating the community's children. The case for temporary taxes is that they give the voter the power to keep agencies regularly accountable and responsive to their constituents. Wouldn't it be refreshing if public servants like the EMS fire chief quoted above looked at this regular interaction as an opportunity instead of a threat?

There's one more attribute of temporary taxes that is of major significance to this discussion: they only require 50% to pass. Permanent levies require a 66% majority. For all of the hand-wringing about how dire the state of emergency medical services is in Valley County, the truth is that if they had gone for a temporary levy when they first tried 18 months ago, they would have gotten their funding. But, unlike the confident, sure-footed school districts, they must have been too insecure in what they were asking to risk justifying their request two years later. Much better to lock it up for perpetuity? Hmmmmm.

Contrast TT to permanent tax levies. A permanent tax can be likened to a straight jacket on the patron. Once it is in the hands of a taxing district, it's forever. If there is another way to repeal a permanent tax besides dissolving the taxing district, (which remember, requires an Act of God), I'm not aware of it.

Permanent taxes insulate bureaucracies from their patrons. Paranoia of the kind exhibited by the fire chief drives agencies to go for the largest amount they think they can sell, not what will cover their more realistic and accurate short term needs. And once they get the money, they won't give it back, even if their expenses don't match their expectations due to changing economic conditions.

The irresistible allure of temporary taxes to the taxpayer is that they emphasize realistic, short-term, real world planning. In our professional lives in the local newsbiz, Tom and I often commented that taxing district staff and their boards protect their turf. They value their long-term security over anything else. There is just no evidence that temporary levies risk an agency's stability and its ability to plan long-term. But there is abundant evidence that permanent levies shackle the voter to poor decisions if conditions change or if changing economic conditions leave the district with a surplus.

Unless you're self-employed, you face a regular employment review. You would surely go into the boss's office quaking in your boots, if you knew that you made some poor decisions that cost your employer a pile of money. But, if you have done what has been asked of you, even shown some creativity that benefitted the company's bottom line, it's in the interests of the company to not only keep you employed, but give you a raise. Somebody please explain to me why administrators and staff of taxing districts literally freak out at the idea of going through the same process?

Personal Opinion Alert: To be very clear, I am not suggesting that Mr. Magoo or Dory had anything to do with the crafting of the EMS levy, although I think their proposed funding strategy is myopic. In my mind, the major question to be decided in the upcoming EMS election is not whether to fund, but how to fund. A 'no' vote is not necessarily 'no' to EMS funding. A 'no' vote can mean "yes, but I want a temporary tax. Let's try this again next May".

Afterthoughts, Observations and Authentications

• In my career, there were boards of trustees that I suspected of being terrorists, but not the Cascade or MV school districts.

• If you didn't know the difference between a temporary tax and a permanent tax before reading the post, awesome. That means I am fulfilling my mission to improve your knowledge of civics. There's much more of the same to come. Please keep reading and encourage others to do the same.

• Upcoming post alert: I said, but there is abundant evidence that permanent levies shackle the voter to poor decisions if conditions change. I have an illustration of this, but it will be a while before I get to it. Stay tuned. You'll be glad you did.

• At least since 1983, when we moved here, I can't remember a single instance in which these bi-annual school district levies faced any opposition. Some patrons have, on occasion, complained that administrators didn't do a suitable job involving the public in their decision making. But the essential argument is that, with a temporary tax, voters have the opportunity to raise a ruckus. Those complainers chose not to. That they had that option is the whole point.

• One of the proponents of the EMS levy touted what he thought was a huge selling point. “A new, permanent structure will ensure we won’t have to ask the community again for many, many years.” Knowing what you now know, is that good?

About me: Tom and Tomi Grote owned/published The Star-News for 40 years (1983-2022). We sold the paper and are now retired on an acreage near Lake Fork with two horses and a Basset Hound named Gidget.

Be sure to drop by the digital archives

In the last years of our careers, Tom talked the Laura Moore Cunningham Foundation into financing digital archives of The Star-News and its predecessors, The Cascade News and the Payette Lakes Star. Up until the creation of this free public service, people who wanted to find something in the archives had to paw through volumes of the original print editions housed at the public libraries. Thanks to the LMCF generous assistance, the ridiculously expensive conversion of these archives into a searchable, digital database was accomplished. You can find the archive here. It is worth bookmarking in your browser for future reference.

The mini-civics lessons in this column will eventually be housed with the archives for a complete community reference resource.