Idaho Falls treasurer reports 7.15% valuation growth; council previews tentative budget and earmarks $500,000 capital foregone for fire storage

City Treasurer Mark presented preliminary property valuation figures Thursday that the city used to build its tentative budget: new construction for tax year 2024 was estimated at about $177 million, annexations added about $832,000, and an overall valuation adjustment of about 4.9% produced a blended valuation increase of roughly 7.15%.

Mark explained how the city's levy options interact: the council can take the statutory 3% increase first, then growth from new construction and annexation, and then draw on foregone capacity; the maximum allowable increase by state law is the 8% statutory cap without voter approval. He warned that valuation shifts can cause a tax shift between residential and commercial property classes; this year the valuation increase is concentrated in commercial property.

Why it matters: The council must adopt a tentative budget and publish notices before receiving final county numbers. Preliminary decisions now shape what is advertised and placeholds the options the council will vote on during the formal August public hearings.

Key fiscal figures and legal constraints Mark presented the draft numbers used for the council's worksheet: an estimated $177,000,000 of new construction for tax year 2024 and a valuation adjustment of roughly 4.9%, which together produced a blended valuation change of about 7.15%. He noted the city's statutory maximum levy leeway (an 8% maximum increase without voter approval) and explained that additional increases beyond the statutory and growth amounts require specific voter-approved overrides.

Council direction on budget items and fee changes Finance staff and department directors walked the council through departmental requests, fee changes and reallocation of services from governmental funds to enterprise funds (for example, moving street light and traffic signal costs into the power enterprise). Several items were approved for inclusion in the draft budget or for further work:

- A customer-service representative FTE in municipal services, fully funded by enterprise utilities, was confirmed for inclusion. - A GIS technician position will be retained; the streets portion is about $13,380 (citywide cost shared across utilities and streets). - Police requests include a contingent funding posture for a shooting range project if the city closes out Certificates of Participation (COP) and frees about $950,000 in trust proceeds to apply to the project; council set that item as a contingent one-time use tied to COP closeout authority.

Council decision on capital foregone and next steps Council members debated whether to advertise use of capital foregone (the one-time portion of the 3% capital authority). After discussion about competing one-time needs (streets maintenance, fire facility needs, police range) the council reached a preliminary consensus to advertise an intent to use up to $500,000 of the available capital foregone for the storage building at the new north-side fire station. That figure represents a partial use of the city's available foregone/capacity and would be a one-time capital allocation; the council president and several councilors signaled support while one councilor explicitly opposed taking the full 3% foregone.

Timing and legal notices Finance staff summarized the schedule: the council will adopt a tentative budget at next week's meeting, the tentative budget and fee proposals will be published for required notice (advertisements Aug. 2 and Aug. 9 noted), and public hearings on rates, foregone and the tentative budget will take place in August with final adoption later in the month. Staff emphasized that the county's final valuation numbers (expected the week of Aug. 4) will be used to refine final tax-impact estimates.

Ending Council members left several items in contingency to be finalized after the county numbers arrive, and staff will present updated worksheets at the next work session. The council also directed staff to proceed with the public-notice steps necessary to advertise the tentative budget and the potential capital foregone allocation for public comment.