Kootenai County commissioners reinstate homeowner exemption, remove duplicate assessment and approve exemptions under state bill

Kootenai County commissioners on Aug. 26 voted to reinstate a 2025 homeowner exemption for a single parcel, remove a duplicate assessor identification number tied to a mobile home converted into real property, and approve a batch of homeowner exemptions allowed by state legislation.

The board moved quickly through assessor items at the start of its 11 a.m. session. Dyson Savage, chief deputy assessor, told commissioners that a homeowner exemption “fell off when it shouldn't have” after a transfer and recommended reapplying the exemption to the parcel identified in county records as AIN 254219, owned by Shireman. The board voted to reinstate the exemption.

Savage also described a separate case in which a mobile home had been converted to real property and was being billed under two assessor identification numbers. "We need to take the value away from that mobile home PIN so they only pay once," Savage said. The board voted to remove the duplicate AIN 352660 (listed as “Hail” on the agenda) so the property will be assessed only once.

The board then handled items 5 through 37 together. Savage said those items are homeowner-exemption requests now allowable under recent state legislation identified in the agenda as House Bill 564. He said the board could not change values on the closed roll but could process exemptions that translate into tax cancellations. The commissioners approved adding the homeowner exemptions for the AINs and owners listed on the meeting agenda.

Jill Smith, chief deputy treasurer, spoke during the public-comment portion to clarify tax-relief processing. Concerning the parcel whose exemption had been removed in error, Smith said the county needed to grant homeowner tax relief because the owner “would have qualified for the state homeowner's tax relief had the exemption not been removed in error.” She also confirmed, in response to a question, that the assessor’s office had the relevant applications on file and that the office’s records showed some of the submissions arrived before July 2, a date cited in the discussion about eligibility for state relief.

Dan Reed, representing the treasurer’s office, sought clarification about items 1 and 2 processed earlier by an assessor-record change (ARC). County officials agreed those items should be processed in a cancellation-of-taxes meeting rather than the Board of Equalization if the action changes the county’s tax records rather than the assessor’s valuation records.

Outcomes (as recorded in the meeting): the board approved reinstatement of the 2025 homeowner exemption for AIN 254219 (Shireman); approved deletion of duplicate AIN 352660 (mobile home converted to real property); and approved adding homeowner exemptions for items 5–37 under House Bill 564 as listed on the agenda. The motions were made, seconded and recorded as carried during the Aug. 26 meeting; the agenda lists the AINs and property-owner names for the grouped motion but those individual AINs and names were not spoken aloud during the portion of the transcript provided.

The board and staff clarified procedural distinctions: value changes to the closed roll should go to the Board of Equalization, while dollar reductions that change tax bills should be handled at a cancellation-of-taxes meeting. The clerk noted the ARCs reflect assessor-record valuation changes and that cancellations are handled separately by the treasurer’s office.

The meeting adjourned shortly after the assessor items and public clarification.