Anti-business-tax petition rejected in Sandpoint

SANDPOINT – Administrators here have rejected a petition by downtown businesses to abolish a local business tax.

Sandpoint officials said some of the signatures on the petition to dissolve the city’s business improvement district couldn’t be verified as being from the business owners, and some of the businesses had closed.

Mayor Gretchen Hellar also said only about 40 percent of the business improvement district was represented by the petitioners. But the mayor noted the petitioners can go straight to the City Council.

“The council can still dissolve the district if so desired,” Hellar wrote.