Committee updates property tax relief rule to reflect House Bill 521 changes

Kathleen Ireland, property tax research specialist for the Idaho State Tax Commission, presented docket 35-0103-2402 and said the amendments to Property Tax Rule 810 are corrective changes to conform rule text with statutory changes enacted in House Bill 521.

Ireland said the rule was originally drafted to implement distribution mechanics from House Bill 292 (2023) and that House Bill 521 later changed several provisions. The amendments add school district plant facilities and safe school plant facilities funds (as described in the transcript as section 4 of House Bill 521) to the list of accounts eligible to receive property tax relief distributions. Ireland said subsection 3b was stricken to conform with statutory changes described in the transcript and that subsection 4 (which addressed an "all tax relief" provision) was removed after that component was eliminated by House Bill 521 and its funds redistributed to schools and homeowners.

Ireland told the committee the statutory changes gave local treasurers more time by allowing use of the previous year's levy rate while quantities were finalized, easing the administrative timeline.

Senator Toews moved approval of docket 35-0103-2402; a second was recorded and the committee approved the docket by voice vote. Ireland said public meetings and negotiated rule sessions drew participation from elected county officials, industry representatives and lobbyists and that feedback on the proposed rule edits was positive.

The changes are administrative and intended to align rule language with statutory changes from recent legislation; no new distribution formulas or funding amounts were introduced in committee.