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Committee advances bill requiring property-class assessment ratios be within 5 percentage points of each other
Summary
The committee sent Senate Bill 1216 to the floor with a do-pass recommendation. The bill would require different classes of property to be assessed at ratios no more than five percentage points apart and is described as a trailer to earlier property-tax legislation.
The Idaho Senate Local Government and Taxation Committee voted April 2 to send Senate Bill 1216 to the floor with a do-pass recommendation. The bill would narrow disparities among property-class assessment ratios by requiring that the ratios for different property classes be within five percentage points of one another.
Representative Jeff Ehlers, presenting the bill, described SB 1216 as a trailer to earlier legislation addressing assessment ranges and said the measure "stays with that original interval" while adding a new requirement that assessment ratios for different classes be no more than five percentage points apart. He offered a practical example: "if residential was 97% of market value, then commercial could only be within 5 percentage points of that. So 92 to 102," he said.
Why it matters: Assessors and counties use class-specific assessment ratios when converting market values to taxable values. Large gaps among class ratios can produce perceived or real disparities across residential, commercial and other property types; proponents said tightening the gap reduces those disparities while giving assessors some statistical flexibility.
Context and related measures: Committee members and the sponsor said SB 1216 is linked to prior legislation (House Bill 354 was cited) and that other related changes are pending in House Bill 479. Witnesses at the meeting noted the measure was negotiated with county assessors and the tax commission to align with national standards for valuation intervals and to preserve some assessor discretion where comparable sales data are limited.
Committee action: Senator Dan Hartog moved to send SB 1216 to the floor with a do-pass recommendation; the motion was seconded by Senator Toews. The committee approved the motion by voice vote; no roll-call tally was recorded in the transcript.
Ending: Committee members said the bill is a compromise intended to narrow valuation gaps while preserving assessor flexibility; SB 1216 will proceed to the Senate floor for further consideration.
