Idaho Land Board subcommittee eyes spending $240 million

Idaho Gov. Brad Little convened the first meeting of a committee tasked with recommending what kind of assets the state should buy with $240 million.

That amount of money has commercial businesses, timber companies and farmers worried about unfair competition from the state.

Little was joined by Attorney General Lawrence Wasden, also a Republican, and former Boise Cascade treasurer Irving Littman on Friday for the first meeting of the Idaho Land Board’s reinvestment subcommittee.

The five-member Land Board oversees about 3,800 square miles of land and is constitutionally mandated to get the greatest return on that land over the long run.

The $240 million is being generated by the sale of hundreds of residential home sites and some commercial real estate properties.

The subcommittee made no decisions, but plans to meet again within three weeks.