Sandpoint urban renewal board denies Bonner County Ambulance District withdrawal from downtown and northern tax-allocation areas

The Sandpoint Urban Renewal Agency Board of Commissioners voted unanimously at a special meeting in June 2025 to deny the Bonner County Ambulance District’s requests to withdraw from the agency’s Downtown and Northern revenue allocation areas and directed the chair to provide written notice of the board’s action.

The action follows Idaho’s 2025 enactment of House Bill 436, which created a statutory process for a fire district or ambulance service district to seek withdrawal from an urban renewal revenue allocation area. Chairman Eric Paul summarized the statute and the packet analysis, saying the law permits withdrawal only after a specific accounting and provided that ‘‘there are no existing indebtedness or other financial obligations’’ that would exceed the revenue allocation proceeds attributable to the withdrawing district.

Board members considered county-provided accounting figures and the agency’s current and anticipated obligations. The packet describes a September 7, 2018 revenue allocation note issued to finance downtown public improvements with an…