Idaho Falls to participate in State property tax relief plan
BOISE, Idaho (KIFI/KIDK)-UPDATE: The city of Idaho Falls will submit a letter to the Governor’s office Friday expressing its intent to be considered for property tax relief under the Governor’s proposal.
Details of the plan have yet to be worked out, so the full impact of the relief is still unknown. City Councilmen discussed the proposal in a budget session Thursday.
Original Story:
Ten counties and 25 cities have signed on to Governor Brad Little’s plan to leverage federal coronavirus relief funds. Little said the state would utilize the allocation to cover local public safety personnel salaries and give cities and counties the opportunity to pass on the savings to property taxpayers.
Little announced the plan in a series of statewide briefings June 8.
Other cities have questioned the conditions of the allocation. Those would include a freeze on total property tax collections through 2021 at this year’s levels. That would prohibit cities and counties from taking their allowable 3% revenue increase.
Little said the move would provide $200 million in property tax relief, or a 10 to 20% reduction in property tax bills.
Cities that have, so far, submitted a letter of intent include:
Boise
Nampa
Meridian
Coeur d'Alene
Twin Falls
Caldwell
Rexburg
Chubbuck
Jerome
Sun Valley
Rathdrum
Buhl
McCall
Bonners Ferry
Weiser
Preston
Kellogg
Rigby
St. Anthony
Sandpoint
Osburn
Pinehurst
Challis
Inkom
Homedale
Counties that have, so far, submitted a letter of intent include:
Canyon
Jefferson
Fremont
Madison
Boundary
Gooding
Idaho
Clearwater
Owyhee
Camas
To be eligible, cities and counties must submit a letter of intent to the Governor by 5 p.m. Friday.
“Our focus is to support our communities and our police, fire, and EMS personnel and ensure there are no reductions in public safety during these unprecedented challenges. I appreciate the cities and counties working with us to ensure the resulting budget savings are given back to the people of Idaho in the form of property tax relief rather than backfilling local government budgets,” Governor Little said.
The U.S. Treasury Department gave the Governor discretion to determine how best to use public health relief funding. Little said he concluded the new program was the best “necessary and appropriate” use of it.
