Street plan makes sense for C. Falls

Two years ago, Columbia Falls city leaders set up a trust fund using proceeds from the sale of nearly 400 acres of city land near the Cedar Creek Reservoir.

The idea was to set aside a rainy-day pot of money for future infrastructure improvements.

With growth running at a record pace, Columbia Falls' rainy day already has come.

The city needs the trust fund much sooner than anticipated and now is asking voters to let the city borrow $1.1 million from the fund and use it for street reconstruction. Taxpayers would pay back the money with interest over 20 years.

This is a resourceful move for Columbia Falls.

Columbia Falls' infrastructure has been heavily impacted by growth, but the city doesn't have many options to raise the large sums of money it takes to rebuild streets.

Whitefish has the luxury of its 2 percent resort tax, which has generated $7.6 million for street reconstruction over the past decade. That tax truly is Whitefish's ace in the hole, not only for street repair but also for property-tax relief and park projects. Longtime residents still remember what a "Pothole City" Whitefish was before the resort tax was passed by voters.

Attempts to establish local-option taxes have failed in the Legislature, leaving communities such as Columbia Falls out of luck.

As the biggest city in the Flathead, Kalispell has a broader tax base from which to draw revenue, but the city still struggles to find money for roads. Earlier this year the Kalispell City Council decided its impact fee advisory committee should continue to study options for generating more money to bring roads up to snuff.

The committee had proposed a transportation-impact fee of nearly $700 per new house.

If Columbia Falls' mail-in ballot request passes, heavily traveled Talbott Road tops the list of street projects that would benefit from the trust-fund infusion.

Talbott is a crucial east-west connector street that runs past two schools, the Montana Veterans Home and a soccer complex. It's no wonder the street's road bed and surface is deteriorating.

Voter have until June 26 to decide if they favor the trust-fund withdrawal. We urge them to vote yes. This is a levy worth supporting.