Nov. 8--Don Johnson's family has been farming in Kuna since 1943.

Now 72, Johnson is worried about losing his 124-acre farm because he joined the city's local improvement district in 2006 to help the city expand its sewer capacity and promote economic growth. Had the growth continued, residents stood to make several times the amount they paid for the land; at least one landowner said he had million-dollar offers.

Then the economy tanked. Property owners who pledged their land to secure the $27 million the city used to build a wastewater treatment plant with a capacity of 13,000 sewer hookups now say they face foreclosure.

"We were trying to help the community," Johnson said. "They kept saying they needed more sewer capacity."

Mayor Scott Dowdy says the landowners are getting ahead of themselves. The Idaho statute that allows cities to create local improvement districts precludes lenders from foreclosing on the property for three years, he said, and the economy could recover in that time.

The district consists of 187 members, including 26 individual property owners, limited partnerships, banks, homeowner's associations and builders. Each agreed to be assessed a portion of the more than $27 million owed on the plant.

They plan to put their questions to the Kuna City Council during three days of protest hearings next week.

But even Kuna residents not involved in the district will be watching the hearings closely, worried that their taxes could increase if the city must assume the debt. How much taxes would increase is unclear.

In the meantime, the city is trying to help by using the $4,200 collected each time a sewer connection is sold to pay off some of the improvement district debt, Dowdy said.

After the hearings, landowners will have 30 days to pay what they owe in full. If they don't, they will have to begin making payments in December 2010.

Rumblings of litigation against the city are growing louder, Kuna officials say. Landowners say the city encouraged them to join the district, and they want it to pick up the tab.

"We're figuring on it (a lawsuit)," said City Engineer Gordon Law.

Local improvement districts are common in Idaho, according to Stephanie Bonney, an attorney with Moore Smith Buxton & Turcke in Boise, but usually not involving undeveloped, bare ground.

"There is nothing that says you can't use it for bare ground," she said. "But traditionally, it would be used for things like a subdivision that needed paved streets or a community water system."

BAD TIMING

The improvement district was envisioned as a win-win for everybody.