New property tax bill would require a vote of the people for a levy rate increase

BOISE, Idaho (CBS2) — A bill introduced in committee Tuesday morning would require a vote of the people any time a board of county commissioners or local taxing district wants to increase a levy rate. It would happen through a referendum process.

Rep. Kevin Andrus, R-Lava Hot Springs, says the legislation wouldn't cause any more work or problems for local officials if they're doing what the people want.

"I get a lot of complaints from people about property taxes. People complain to state officials about local property taxes and part of that could be they just don't understand it but I think it's more than that. They want more of a voice," said Rep. Andrus. "There isn't really much of a way besides waiting until those elected officials come up for election that people can have a better say in their budget process, and this is merely doing that, giving people more of a say, more input into the budget process and their taxes."

Rep. Rick Cheatum, R-Pocatello, said he doesn't see a need for more expensive elections when voters can choose not to re-elect elected officials if they aren't happy with how they're writing budgets.

Rep.Jerald Raymond, R-Menan, points out people can already address their concerns with budgets and property taxes during the local government's annual budget public hearing.

"Unfortunately those hearings are historically not very well attended, but I think before we go to the route of holding elections and referendums, we encourage our people to attend public hearings where those concerns can be very easily expressed, and hopefully our local elected officials will be receptive to the concerns of the citizens," said Raymond.

Rep. Lauren Necochea, D-Boise, said she likes the intent of the legislation, but said it's focused on the wrongs things.

"The part of the bill that's concerning is that it really focuses on levy rates, which are not the core driver of your property tax bill," said Necochea. "What we need to focus on is re-indexing the homeowners' exemption. It's those increasing values that's driving up property tax bills. We've seen this since the Republicans capped the homeowners exemption in 2016, and as those home values rise, our exemption no longer rises with the home value to protect homeowners over time."

She said the bill could be particularly harmful to rural parts of the state.

"This bill could make rural Idaho taxing districts have to go to their voters every year to approve the budget, and that means that ambulance, paramedics, law enforcement officers and firefighters will have to live with that instability of not knowing whether they'll get a pay cut or a pay raise every year. That will just make it really hard for rural Idaho to recruit those kinds of staff they need just to provide those critical services," Necochea said.

A motion to send the bill back to the sponsor failed.

It'll need a hearing before it can move forward.

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