City councilman proposes merger of Pocatello and Chubbuck as a way to lower taxes for residents

POCATELLO – A suggestion to merge Pocatello and Chubbuck into one city under a new name has been making the rounds in eastern Idaho.

The idea isn’t being discussed officially by either city, but Pocatello City Council President W. James Johnston has mentioned exploring the idea as part of his bid for re-election in November.

“Everybody is up in arms relative to (tax) assessments on their properties. The main reason properties go up in value is because there’s something good happening,” Johnston tells EastIdahoNews.com.

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One of the good things happening in Pocatello, according to Johnston, is that property values are going up, and when property values go up, so do taxes.

“In order to preserve as much of people’s hard-earned money as possible, we need to avoid these taxes if we can,” he says. “The best way we can save money for the citizens of Bannock County is to consolidate the two biggest spenders: Pocatello and Chubbuck.”

Merging the cities would eliminate the need for two mayors and two city councils, and it would also consolidate other city programs like the police department, fire department, and parks and recreation, Johnston says.

“We’ve got two of everything,” he says. “If we cut those things out, we’d be able to save…about $12 million a year.”

That amount is his estimated total of Pocatello and Chubbuck’s city employee salaries and benefits. With more than 700 city employees in Pocatello, Johnston says salaries and benefits are Pocatello’s largest expense.

The savings would eliminate a significant portion of the tax burden for Bannock County residents, Johnston says, but this suggestion is not about eliminating jobs.

“I don’t want anybody to lose their jobs. We’re not going to go out and just fire people, but through attrition, people retiring, people moving, we won’t have to rehire anyone,” he says. “We’ll do a thorough study before we go and relieve people of their livelihoods. We have the best employees in Pocatello. Our people are just fantastic.”

Ryan Satterfield, president of Satterfield Realty & Development and chairman of Pocatello Planning and Zoning, feels the tax burden on Pocatello and Chubbuck residents is too high and is in favor of a change.

“It’s been like that for years and years, and the city governments claim they’ve tried to do things to get that burden lowered, but it doesn’t seem like anything really changes,” Satterfield says. “I see this proposal as something that is significant enough that we actually can make a change and reduce the tax burden.”

Johnston points to Pocatello’s recent consolidation of street operations, sanitation and fleet services into one entity as a small example of how merging the two cities could operate.

“We’re going to save a lot of money for the taxpayers having this fleet department. All the tires will be bought by one entity, all the oil, all the gas. The mechanics will work out of the same building, and we’ll be able to cut down on the number of employees,” he says.

Both Satterfield and Johnston agree that merging the two cities does come with challenges.

“We’ve got a lot of ordinances that differ from one city to the next. I’m really involved in building and construction, and if we could get the two cities on the same page just relative to building codes, it would really make our contractors happy,” says Johnston.

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Both cities have wonderful things to offer, Satterfield says, and city leaders could sit down together to determine how to retain and blend the best elements from each city.

Not everyone is weighing in though. Pocatello Mayor Brian Blad declined to comment on the issue.

Chubbuck Mayor Kevin England says he’s open to having a conversation, but he cannot support the idea at this time.

“The few who are talking about it on the Pocatello side are claiming there would be cost savings. I would challenge them to show us where that will be,” he says.

England says he and Pocatello Mayor Brian Blad tried to combine the fire departments in each city several years ago. England was convinced at the time that it would save money, but after seven months of discussion and hard work, he learned that wasn’t the case.

“If we couldn’t even pull that off, I don’t see how you can merge two cities,” England says.

There are some who are opposed to even having a conversation about the idea. One business leader in Chubbuck, who wishes to remain anonymous, feels talking about it when it’s not even a real proposal will only result in dividing the community.

“One only needs to read the horrible comments in the threads of the news stories that are out there now to see how it’s already started to resurrect the bad blood between the citizens of the cities that we’ve worked hard to overcome from the 1980s,” she writes in an email to EastIdahoNews.com. “I hope this conversation dies. It will tear our community apart far faster than it will bring it together. I am truly worried for our community if this movement grows.”

Johnston understands that people often fear change and that there are emotional ties to the name of a community. The merger idea is something he’s been thinking about for a while, but the conversation has just begun. He says there needs to be much more public discourse before it’s on a ballot, and it’s a conversation he’s looking forward to having.

“The more citizen involvement we have in our communities, the better off we’re going to be,” says Johnston. “I hope that the suggestion of this consolidation situation will bring up some other ideas that are better than what I have. I’ll get on the bandwagon with better ideas, if they come forth, in terms of how we can save tax dollars.”

The population of Pocatello, according to most recent U.S. Census data, is estimated at 56,200. Chubbuck’s population is around 15,300. If the cities merged, the total population would be about 71,500, making it the largest city in the region.