Idaho counties say state mandates are a financial burden

A new report shows Idaho counties are struggling to deal with the financial burden created by state mandates that make county government responsible for things like covering the cost of public defenders and funding jails.

The report from state auditors with the Office of Performance Evaluations was presented to the Joint Legislative Oversight Committee on Wednesday. Report co-author Amanda Bartlett says 80 percent of the county commissioners surveyed for the report said their biggest challenge is not having enough revenue to meet the state’s mandates.

One example is the state’s new public defense standards. Counties paid $32 million to provide public defenders in 2017, and the state provided $4.2 million in grants to help cover those costs.

The study found that 29 of Idaho’s 44 counties faced state-imposed revenue constraints in 2018, either because of the 3 percent overall cap on property tax revenue increases or to caps on individual levy rates.