Committee approves rule updates to align property tax relief with recent law

The Local Government and Taxation Committee approved amendments to Property Tax Rule 810 to reflect statutory changes affecting property tax relief programs.

Kathleen Ireland of the Idaho State Tax Commission said docket 30-5-010-32402 updates Rule 810 to conform to changes made in House Bill 521 and earlier House Bill 292 (2023). The rule amendments add "school district plant facilities and safe school plant facilities funds" to the list of funds eligible to receive property tax relief money, tying the change to language in section 4 of House Bill 521 and an amendment to "section 33-9-11," Ireland said. The rule also removes a model (previous subsection 4) that applied to an "all tax relief" approach because the statute redistributed that funding to schools and homeowner relief.

Ireland said House Bill 521 also amended what the transcript calls "63 7 24" (noted in the packet) and the new subsection 3(b) in the rule provides clarifying language to align with that statutory change. She characterized the 2023 change to allow treasurers to use the previous year's levy rate as helpful because it gave more time for administration and review.

Miss Arlan, representing commission process staff, said the commission held negotiated-rule meetings and public meetings with elected county officials and industry participants; she said comments were positive and there were no objections recorded.

A motion to approve docket 30-5-010-32402 was made and seconded; the committee approved the docket by voice vote with no recorded opposition in the transcript.