A breakdown of the Ammon Street Levy
Among the many issues to consider this election season, Ammon residents have one extra issue to vote on. It's whether they approve a $1.25 million annual street levy for the city to use on road maintenance.
"I think a lot of residents would recognize that there are a lot of road needs," said Mayor Sean Coletti, the Mayor of Ammon. "But we actually have no consistent source of revenue for streets in the City of Ammon.
At the moment, Coletti says the city gets its road maintenance funds from the state's highway user fees, utility franchise fees, grants, and some funds from developers when they work on new projects within the city. The problem, Coletti says, is that those funds aren't enough and are not consistent enough to pay for major road construction projects. All current property taxes go to primarily funding the police department, with the remaining portion going towards the parks system.
"So what we're trying to do is create that consistent year-after-year source of revenue for streets, so that we can adequately take care of our roads," said Coletti.
If passed, the proposed levy is set to cost homeowners $56.07 per $100,000 of taxable value annually. To estimate their annual cost, homeowners need to take their home's value, subtract $125,000 for the Idaho Homeowner's Exemption to find their taxable value, then multiply that taxable value by the $56.07.
For example: a home is valued at $400,000. Subtract $125,000 to get a taxable value of $275,000. Then multiply 56.07 by 2.75 (from the $275,000 taxable value) to get an annual cost of $154.19.
Another example: a home is valued at $675,000. Subtract $125,000 for the Idaho Homeowner's Exemption to get a taxable value of $550,000. Multiply $56.07 by 5.5 (again, from the $550,000 taxable value), to get the annual cost of $308.39.
Coletti says his hope for this levy is it will be a long term investment for the city and ultimately make the city better for people and drivers.
The levy will be on a two year renewal plan, meaning if it passes voters will have to approve it again every two years.
