Bannock County to hold public hearing on foregone taxes

BANNOCK COUNTY, Idaho (KIFI/KIDK) - UPDATE Sept. 15, 1:04 p.m.: The Bannock County Commissioners voted to reserve the foregone funds for the 2020 tax year.

In a public hearing on Tuesday, the commissioners heard from a single local taxpayer and unanimously voted to reserve the extra $1 million in foregone taxes.

ORIGINAL:

Taxpayers in Bannock County will have their first chance to weigh in on an important tax issue.

Bannock County, along with the ambulance district and the abatement district, are planning to reserve about $1 million in foregone taxes.

According to Idaho law (Section 63-802), when taxing districts don't use the full 3% of a yearly property tax increase that's allowed, the district can choose to reserve that money to collect and use at some point in the future.

“It’s just reserving the right to use it at some point," said Bannock County Clerk Jason Dixon.

"Let’s say we had some sort of catastrophic collapse of a building or there was legislation that mandated we do some task. If we don’t have enough in our budget to do that task, we could then the following year, bump up (taxes) and use foregone (money) that we are reserving now," Dixon said.

Bannock County has not collected or used foregone money since 2016, according the county clerk's office.

Earlier this year, House Bill 354 was enacted, which now requires officials to host a public hearing when they want to reserve foregone taxes.

The public hearing will be held Tuesday, Sept. 15 at 11 a.m. in the Commissioners' Chambers at the Bannock County Courthouse. You can see the public hearing notice here.