Welcome to tonight's Live Wire chat with Idaho Falls City Council candidate Tom Hally. My name is Kortny Rolston and I will be moderating the chat to make sure there are no personal attacks or other problems. Tom is scheduled to answer questions for at least an hour, but he may go longer if he gets enough queries.
Have fun.

Since no is online asking questions yet, we'll pose some to get started. Our first is: Where do you stand on the city's proposal to regulate daycares?

we are in the process of gathering information to make a decision. I have a background in child welfare work and licensed foster homes and did adoption studies and do feel that there should be some kind of regulation of daycares. We do want to hear from everyone.

Tom,

I have to ask the obvious. What's it been like to run against a former member of the council? Is it any different than running against a new-comer? Based on your experience working with Larry Lyon, what do you think are the main differences in philosophy between the two of you?

The main difference is that we both have a record. It is a little different, but in some ways it is really easier. Attitude is a difference. I also believe it is important to network with the citizens and I do this by being involved with organizations such as Rotary, Development Workshop and many others. I also attend my committee meetings and meetings with consultants and partners who do business with the city.

When is the council expected to decide on the daycare issue? We've gotten calls saying the daycares in town are already warning people that if this goes through they will no longer take drop-ins or part-timers.

We are taking our time on this one. We want input from the public and Karen Cornwell is trying to get a draft together so that we can have more public input. I do not look for anything until after the first of the year. Part timers is one issue I am listening to and I want to hear rfrom as many people as possible.

Tom,
Please explain why the City Council recently voted to keep a surplus (tax overcharge) and put it in a "slush" fund for some undisclosed future project instead of returning it to the citizens who were overcharged? There are 10's of millions now in various "reserves" now, why more. What was your role in this deed?

I cannot think of any one hundred and fifty million dollar business that would not have reserves. If we had no reserves Sunnyside road would not open tomorrow. We would not have Meleluca Field. Your utility rates would be higher. You need capital to run a business and pay your bills. These funds were started a long time ago. All of the council for years has been in favor of reserves except my opponent.

Some people I've talked to have characterized you as a liberal? I have no idea if this is accurate or not. While I understand that city elections are non-partisan, how would you describe your political ideologies?

I tend to be conservative by nature. I have no personal debt and own my home. I pay my bills on time. I have owned apartments in the past and have run a million dollar budget that was balanced to the penny. I really feel that our city is recognized as one of the best communities to live in by several publications and I would think that how the city is run has something to do with that.

What is your general view on property taxes and their fairness? Seems if you take care of and improve your property (and thus the city) your reward is HIGHER taxes. If you let it run down, your reward is LOWER taxes. What is your position of reducing the rates and possibly getting rid of them in favor of other fees and taxes that represent actual use?

Property taxes exist in most states. They are based on value and thus when value goes up your taxes will increase. I think you are right on that some of our fees are too low which forces up the property tax reliance. I want the levy as low as possible and still keep this city such a nice place to live. Remember inflation has really hit infastructure costs hard. User taxes and sales tax are an option that the legislature could change.

But the reserves you carry in various accounts is huge!! And isn't the City Power a separate, pay-for-itself enterprise? Are you suggesting the City is subsidizing IF Power outside of rates being charged?

Each of the funds serves a purpose. For example funds were set aside 20 years in advance to pay for the new city garage and one year ago when the garage opened it was paid for. No the city is not subsidizing IF Power.

Have you ever felt so strongly on an issue tht you voted against the majority of other members on council.It seems to me you alwys just seem to along. Please prove me wrong.

I have voted against the majority. A zoning issue came up with little Peoples academy and mine was a minority vote. Usually we have committee meetings or work sessions to discuss the issues in advance. My opponent does not attend these meetings very often. The council usually comes to a consensus on many issues and actually my opponent and I agree on many issues.

Would you champion a "local tax levy" resolution by the City Council to petition the State to allow such local sales taxes? As a regional shopping and commerce center, we property tax payers have to pay for all the folks in eastern Idaho, Montana and Wyoming who come and use our services and run up the infrastructure costs. Shouldn't they be paying "fair" value for their use of our services, and not have them subsidized by property tax payers?

I would really favor a point of origin sales tax revenue source to the cities. Idaho Falls would really benefit from such a structure as we are a regional retail center.

If the City is not subsidizing IF Power, then what does your 7:23 statement mean when you say "Your utility rates would be higher." The city already charges "franchise charges" to cover its costs. Was that a mis-statement on your part?

We have reserves in our utility that is built up from the electrical rates or revenue the utility receives. It is one of many reserves that are set up. The first question did not differentiate between an enterprise entity or non enterprise entity.

Would you champion a City Council resolution for local sales tax options to the State Legislature....I think you evaded that question.

A city resolution would not mean anything. There is legislation being considered that would allow 1/4 of a cent going to the cities for roads and public transportation. I learned of this because I am on the Association of Idaho cities legislative committee.

Going back to utility reserves. If we did not have the reserves our bond rate would sink and we would pay millions more for a bond. When Enron created a mess all utility rates skyrocketed and we were able to reduce the impact with our rate stablization fund.

Why do you bother even allowing the public to speak at city council when it appears you have all made up your minds in work sessions?

Our mind is made up on things such as contracts, purchases and things like that. We gain a lot of information from these sessions because the public is invited. If it is an issue where there is a lot of differing opinions then my mind is open

I would think such a resolution petitioning the State Legislature would mean something....It would put IF's Case on record there. IF they choose to ignore, then it would be our job as electorate to work for legislators that will give such relief to the local communities. This brings up the question: Have you introduced any bills/resolutions/city code changes to the Council...or do you just wait for something to be proposed and go with the flow?

Yes, an example would be small fee increases, and at a recent budget meeting I was a compromise person to lower the increase the city could have obtained from the property tax. I was also attending a meeting where we had to decide how much power we should obtain from IPP 3 and I opted for the higher rate because we could later go down and not up. My opponent was not at the meeting.

I understand the need for IF Power reserves. But what is the total City Reserves outside of those IF Power needs for prudent operation? Seems like the City has a plethora of such "reserves".

The city has a lot of reserves. We pay for equipment and have the funds to pay for replacement on a scheduled basis. We have a reserve in the general fund that has gone down because of Sunnyside road and the ballfield. We were able to rebuild about 70 curbcuts immediately to meet ADA standards. The general operation of the city requires reserves to operate just like any business.

Doesn't the existence of all these "reserves" simply allow the Council to fund and do things without public input on the new projects?

Most of the time we have public input. When a bridge was deemed unsafe three years ago we had no choice but repair it. This Tautphaus Park. If we have a heavy snowfall that exceeds our budget we have the capital to remove the snow.

Why in the city budget was the new library director given almost a 30 percent raise in pay after less than 2 years of working for the city. After I verified my facts on the salary increase with the Post Register, I then went to council and asked for an explanation. I never received one. Did you do anything to research my question?

We pay our division heads on a competitive basis. The library is under the direction of a very fine boad and head librarians at a library our size have to be paid based on the market or we could not keep qualified people.

You helped "lower the increase"? That means there still was an increase then. Why would you still need such an increase, if we are running surpluses that are put in new "reserve" accounts?

One of the main reasons for needing the revenue was inflation. Fuel alone cost the city almost $200,000 more than the previous year. Reserves are set aside for a purpose and we do not spend them willy nilly but monitor them closely. If they get too high then we lower rates or whatever. Three reductions on utility rates in four years were made because our reserves indicated it was prudent. We studied this at the power committee meetings and held a work session. My opponent is also on the Power council committee but he never attends.

How does the total in such non-IF Power reserves compare to our annual operating budget?

The utility is roughly one third of the city budget.

The only director in the state paid more than ours is the head of Boise libraries. You did not answer my question as to whether you actually looked into the pay raise.

We probably have the second largest city library in the state. He should be paid accordingly. I did not do research on salaries across the state but relied on others who did. I did research on utility directors, HR directors and airport directors as I was involved in the screening process on two of these and the interviewing process, and may be involved on the HR director hiring.

You keep criticizing your opponent for not attending meetings. What proportion of those meetings were held during "working Hours"? Doesn't that mean the meeting time favor those of the "landed gentry" over the "working Man"?

Tom has agreed to answer questions for a while longer. We'll be wrapping up around 8:30 p.m.

The meeting times were not set by me. We have held them for the most part on the same days for years. I knew when the meetings for when I ran for office and made my decision. Friday afternoons is not a great time , because the public is often gone or is going somewhere. Most of us make adjustments to accomodate the schedule and not just whine.

That was not the question.....What is the total of non-power reserves and how does that compare to the non-power budget. Are you avoiding that question?

If you are asking how the utility reserves compare percentage wise with the other reserves , I do not have the answer to that question right at the tip of my tongue.

Please comment: In the past two years, the levy rose in the first year and although it was lowered in the second, the city took the full three per cent allowed by law and then dipped into the foregone money to the sum of $500,000. This was done during a time of good growth in the city. Is this what the tax payers can expect in the future?

Tom has indicated to me that Mr. Shurtleff's question is the last one he'll answer tonight. It was my fault for saying prematurely that he'd go until 8:30 p.m.

The levy was reduced 3 out of four years. As you know Bill we had issues or costs with Sunnyside Road, the ballfield, and high inflation on most of our infrastructure. If you do not take care of the infrastructure you will pay much more at a later date. We will keep the levy as low as possible while taking care of the infrastructure and those items the citizens say they want, like parks, green belt, recreation such as a skateboard park for our youth. This is what makes this such a neat place to live.

What is the total the City has in "Reserves"?

That's all for tonight. Thanks to everyone who took time to log in and ask questions.

I forgot to mention that if anyone has ideas on how to improve these Live Wire chats I would love to hear about it. We've gotten some participation, but would like to see more.
Please email any comments to krolston@postregister.com.