Workshop presenters warn House Bill 389 and follow‑up laws will reduce future property‑tax capacity for Nampa

City of Nampa officials and Canyon County representatives used Thursday’s workshop to explain how recent state legislative changes — primarily House Bill 389 (2021) and related follow‑up measures — alter how new construction and land‑use changes are counted for municipal property‑tax budgeting, and to outline the fiscal implications for the city.

Presenters described two linked changes. First, HB 389 modified the “new construction” increment used to compute the additional property‑tax capacity that a growing city can budget: local governments now receive 90% of the new‑construction increment (and lower percentages in some special cases) instead of the prior 100%. Second, later legislation removed the land‑use‑change component (the increase in land value when land is rezoned from, for example, agricultural to residential or industrial) from the new‑construction increment that cities could add to their budgets.

Steve Onofrey, chief deputy in the Canyon County treasurer’s office, and Doug Racine (finance staff) explained that the two changes together reduce the tax capacity that would otherwise accompany growth. Onofrey and county staff…