Coeur d'Alene officials authorize community survey to gauge support for proposed fire bond

The Coeur d'Alene City Council on Jan. 7 authorized the fire department and its contracted municipal advisors to launch a community-based survey to gauge support and tax-tolerance for a proposed general obligation bond, and agreed to use the city’s debt service fund to pay for the survey deployment.

Council action follows presentations by Fire Chief Tom Grief and Michael Keith, vice president of Zion Public Finance, the municipal advisory firm the city contracted in December to help plan a potential May 2025 bond election. Grief told council the fire department’s priorities would include replacement of front-line apparatus, remodeling of Station 2, remodeling of Station 1, an expansion of Station 3 and replacement of some command vehicles.

The survey will measure public awareness of the department’s needs, the community’s tolerance for tax impacts, and areas where staff should provide more information before the city returns with a formal resolution in March. Grief and the advisory team described the outreach as both information-gathering and an opportunity to educate voters about equipment costs and timelines. The advisory team noted lead times: apparatus ordered in mid-2025 likely would not arrive until about early 2028.

Councilmember [unnamed] moved to approve “the fire department municipal advisory firm partners [to] launch community based survey and utilize the city's debt service fund for up to $3,500.” The motion was seconded and approved by roll call. During the discussion staff and the municipal advisors repeatedly referred to a larger overall planning number reported in local media ($16,400,000) as an example for community survey scenarios but said the council was not being asked to adopt that total at this meeting.

Council members asked for clarity about the survey sample and deployment. The presentation listed an approximate outreach target of 15,565 registered city voters and a line item in the staff report saying the cost identified for sending the survey to ~15,000 registered voters would be about $1,712. Advisors explained the $1,712 figure covered message and survey design; additional deployment costs (text messages, mail, QR-code printing, partner outreach and other advertising) could be added and staff said a maximum allocation of $35,100 had been discussed in earlier remarks as a possible deployment ceiling. Council requested the final survey methodology, cost breakdown and data sources be documented in the follow-up report; staff said the advisory team (including Amy Holly) would present detailed results to council after the outreach.

Grief and the advisors emphasized that current labor and material cost increases are driving higher apparatus and construction estimates compared with prior bond cycles (examples given: a 2015 pumper at $585,000 vs. a recent estimate “just under $1.2 million”; ladder truck costs cited as rising from $1.4 million to roughly $2.2 million). Grief noted multi-year construction and manufacturing lead times: apparatus ordered in July 2025 could arrive in early 2028.

The council’s approval authorizes staff to proceed with the advisory team and the community survey; no bond amount, tax rate, ballot language or election resolution was adopted. Staff said they will return in March with a formal recommendation and, if appropriate, a resolution finalizing the bond amount and tax impact for the May 2025 election.

The discussion and vote occurred during a scheduled staff presentation and public Q&A; no final election call or bond ordinance was adopted at the Jan. 7 meeting.