Board upholds assessor's 2025 valuation for retired Pocatello homeowners

The Bannock County Commissioners Board of Equalization upheld the 2025 assessed value of a Delmar Street home, parcel RPRPSR2001800, after a hearing in which the retired homeowners said the increase would strain fixed incomes.

Lucy and Harrison Spencer appealed an increase of $32,155 — a 15.4% rise on their home's assessed value — and told the board they are retired and on fixed incomes. "We're both retired and we're on fixed income," Lucy Spencer said, adding that medical costs and insurance increases were a concern.

Lanita Benson, a certified residential appraiser for the Bannock County assessor's office, presented the assessor's analysis. Benson described the house as built in 1988 with 1,308 above-ground square feet and 690 finished basement square feet, and reported the assessor's 2025 value as $309,022 (about $119 per square foot). Benson provided three comparables with price-per-square-foot figures higher than the subject and recommended upholding the assessor's value for 2025.

Board members noted the Spencers had previously appeared before the Board of Equalization multiple times in recent years and observed that the primary evidence presented by the owners concerned ability to pay rather than market-value comparables. "Unfortunately, our role is not to determine the ability to repay or pay the taxes. It's whether we uphold them," a commissioner said.

A motion to uphold the assessor's recommendation for parcel RPRPSR2001800 passed by voice vote; the board will send a formal letter notifying the Spencers of the decision and outlining appeal rights to the district court or the State Board of Tax Appeals.

The board reminded appellants that its statutory role under Idaho Code section 63-502 confines decisions to market-value assessments for tax-year purposes and does not address tax bills or payments.