Candidate forum: Shoshone County Commissioner District #2

The following content is part of the Shoshone News-Press’s local political coverage of the upcoming General Election.

In the absence of an in-person forum or debate, we’ve asked the candidates in the three contested races to answer a series of questions with their answers being published entirely and without any edits (with the exception of minor punctuation and formatting).

The candidates were asked to keep their answers to each question within a 250-word limit.

Each question will be printed, followed by the answers of the candidates.

The position of the answers will be rotated for each question and we will allow the incumbents to have the first answer to the first question.

The race for Shoshone County Commissioner in District #2 features incumbent Jay Huber (D) and David Dose (R).

What do you believe is the most pressing issue facing Shoshone County currently?

Jay Huber: Currently, I believe the biggest issue Shoshone County is facing at the moment is training and keeping employees long-term. Our employees are very important to us. It is more financially feasible to hire them, train them, provide a wage that will benefit them as well as us to keep up with the world's constant financial changes. It doesn't make sense for us to hire, train, put in the time and effort and lose them because they can't afford to live. If we did that we would constantly be taking one step forward and two steps back.

David Dose: To quote James Carville, "It’s the economy, stupid." Voters are telling me that the skyrocketing cost of living here is a major issue. They are frustrated by continuous property tax increases to homeowners, rental increases, and the cost of living in general nationwide. The national economy is putting added pressure on local people, and on people on fixed incomes most especially. We have to do more to help people through lowering spending, thereby lowering taxes and rents countywide. And we need to protect our Sr. Citizens who are being priced out of their homes. I believe part of the solution may be in exploring alternatives to property taxes at the State level and I have been discussing that with some of our candidates for State office.

The Shoshone County Budget increased by $2 million for the upcoming year. Much of the increase was attributed to county employee raises and the rising costs of fuel and other materials. Why do or don’t you support the recently approved budget?

David Dose: The county budget has been increasing by the maximum allowed by law for at least four out of the last five years now. It increased by $2 million last year as well as again this year for example. I have examined this year’s budget in detail, and it is not accurate to say that most of the increases are from pay increases or fuel increases. We have a pattern here of increasing taxes by the maximum allowed by law and then just spending it whether we need to or not, even when we have considerable reserves left over at year’s end. This is what is driving our property tax increases, it is not simply the increase in home values alone – it is what we spend that is hurting us. I do not support budgeting this way. We do need to take care of county employees, and we do need to plan for increasing costs of doing business, but we need to look for ways to reduce spending in other areas when possible and pass the savings along to homeowners and renters.

Jay Huber: I support the budget that was just approved 100%. As everyone knows the budget is a guesstimate of what we think the next year will cost the county. We can't predict the future but most definitely want to be prepared for what will and possibly will come. It is quite a process to determine what the budget could hold. We go back over the previous year's budget as a guideline and put in or take out what we feel is most necessary. This year's budget is coming out as planned. We are where we need to be with most of the departments in the 90% average with some being a little over and a little under which is to be expected. We will not have an abundance of surplus left over as well as no budget shortfall. Although it would be ideal to have more money left over than not enough. Of course, we all know the cost of doing business has gone up considerably, which is why the amount needed for the budget has gone up.

How should a board of county commissioners handle situations concerning access into and through public lands, especially as it concerns nearby or neighboring private land?

Jay Huber: We as commissioners handle the situation to the best of our ability. We have our staff do their due diligence. They report back to us with their findings. We don’t like to close any roads in Shoshone County, but unfortunately the evidence points in the opposite direction. I personally am not fond of this procedure, as I believe it should be handled by the courts and let the justice system do their job.

David Dose: I believe we need to protect our ‘public access’ to public land as a part of maintaining our unique outdoor lifestyle here; this is important to me. I also believe we need to respect the rights of individual property owners. Our founders made it clear that private property is the foundation of prosperity and of freedom itself. Access to public land and individual property rights are two important parts of our North Idaho way of living. We need to move very carefully when these two principles collide to make sure that we are not acting outside the scope of the law or diminishing any citizen’s rights.

Like many other places across the country, Shoshone County is amidst a housing crisis. What do you believe the driving factor is in this crisis and what can we do to rectify the situation locally?

David Dose: It is going to take a variety of approaches to help rectify housing costs and availability. First, we need to bring down county spending where we can in order to lower property taxes which directly affect homeowners and renters alike. Secondly, we need to explore what other counties are doing to handle these challenges and capture their best ideas. A voter just the other day offered to connect me with a project in Coeur d Alene to see how they are meeting the challenge. Other counties are coming up with solutions and we need to learn from them. We need to be more proactive in planning for this as well. It looks to me like most counties that are making progress in these areas are doing so through goal setting and very targeted planning. This is an incredibly important issue for those who want to be able to remain here, retire here, or who are trying to raise their children here and want their kids to have opportunities to live here for years to come.

Jay Huber: Unfortunately, I don't believe there is a solution for our county or any other county currently. Even those that are selling their homes for huge financial gain, are running into the issue of not finding something else to purchase or even rent.

What is the path for Shoshone County to maintain or improve the levels of service that they currently offer?

Jay Huber: One of our jobs as commissioners is to have the residents of Shoshone County in our best interest and most definitely continue to maintain and improve on all the services we offer. Which is one of the reasons the budget went up. So that we can continue to give the citizens what they have come to expect. Which goes hand in hand with my previous answer, we want to keep our great employees that we are investing our time and money into. Including our staff at the Sheriff's Office, in the event there is an emergency our men and women are able to continue to protect and serve; Our staff at the courthouse to ensure you are helped in a timely manner; the road crew making sure the roads are plowed and sanded for your safety. One of the ways to cut back on expenses is to cut the jobs or wages of our employees. That is not even an option in my eyes.

David Dose: We need to keep working on the quality of service we offer as a county. Quality of service does not cost a lot of money and it produces some of the best results. I am regularly impressed by the attitudes and efficiency of the lades in the motor vehicles department for example, as I have been with several of our local Law Enforcement officers and treasurer’s office personnel. I am sure there are others, but those are the ones I have worked with most recently. I want to see quality or service increasing in all areas at the county. Along those lines I think we can make access to the commissioners and county business easier through recording all BOCC meetings and posting the videos online like some of our neighboring counties do. And I think we should consider having Commissioners do office hours in various parts of the county to improve access. I would like us to enlarge our online footprint so that people can do more county business and get more information online whenever they like. And I think more transparency in county business is a must. People should not have to file a FOIA request to see the what we are spending here when other counties have been posting all of those details online for years. We need to continue to build trust through transparency.

What should the board of county commissioners' relationship be with the local media?

David Dose: As a part of more transparency in local government, we need to partner with local and regional media to get the word out as to what is going on. In my last term as a commissioner nearly 30 years ago, I acted as spokesman for the county with the local papers to get all the details out that we could. It is my hope that the local media will welcome this partnership to help keep government accountable by keeping voters informed on all sides of every issue.

Jay Huber: I believe without a doubt that the commissioner's office and the local media should have a great relationship. Currently I feel like we work together very well. If they need information for an article they are currently working on, we have an open-door policy and will do our best to give them any info they need. I personally don't take to social media often, especially for important information. As well as a lot of our residents of Shoshone County, I rely heavily on the local media for information. I hope that we can maintain and continue to grow our relationship with the local media. I realize you can't make everyone happy all the time, but I try my best daily to help everyone that steps into our office.