Kootenai County commissioners approve multiple tax cancellations and valuation adjustments, including nearly $27 million Viking Construction rollback

Kootenai County commissioners on July 9 approved a bundle of valuation adjustments and tax cancellations, including a nearly $27 million reduction to the assessed value for a Viking Construction parcel, a mapping correction of about $150,000 and several other adjustments that county staff described as historical cleanups.

The actions affect multiple parcels and taxing years and were approved unanimously by the three commissioners in attendance: Commissioner Everline, Commissioner Duncan and Commissioner Metari. County assessor's office staff said the items come from an expanded audit of exempt entities and mapping packets that in some cases had produced taxable values in error.

Terry Johnston, an assessor's office staff member, told the board items 1 through 8 are the product of a continuing effort “to clean these up as time goes on,” and said some properties were made taxable in 2017 even though the cancellation being requested does not reach back to 2017. Johnston asked that municipalities and property owners notify the assessor's office when transfers occur or when they receive a tax bill so errors can be corrected sooner.

Johnston described the Viking Construction adjustment as "a very large cancellation, almost $27,000,000," and said the error stemmed from a mapping packet that led to an incorrect land rate being applied across 60 acres. "This was a new person who was working the mapping packet, and they kept the land rate of the apartment on 60 acres, which drastically inflated the value for those 60 acres," Johnston said. She said the assessor's office has implemented additional review steps for very high-value parcels. "We implemented something called an ultra high value audit," Johnston said, explaining that any property with an assessed value over $10,000,000 is now subject to multiple rounds of review before final valuations are set.

County staff had invited the county clerk (Julian) to discuss tax-collection ramifications but the clerk did not attend. Johnston said the office does not believe the Viking cancellation will have “drastic ramifications for the underlying taxing authorities even though it is a large cancellation,” but deferred detailed fiscal impacts to the clerk's office.

Other approved actions included a mapping adjustment for AIN 345823 that county staff said corrects a duplication of one acre's site value and reduces assessed value by about $150,000 going back to 2022; a valuation cancellation for AIN 123884 (Logan) for 2024 and 2025 because the property was rendered uninhabitable by a fire in April 2024 and a warrant of restraint was returned uncollectible; and reinstatement of an agricultural/grazing exemption on 4 acres of AIN 334928 (referred to in the record as "Galker"/"Quelker"), which county staff said results in about a $100,000 valuation drop.

Votes at a glance

- Items 1–8: Approval of cancellation of taxes and valuation adjustments for eight parcels identified in an exempt-entity audit; outcome: approved unanimously (3-0). - AIN 349795 (Viking Construction): Approval of valuation adjustment / tax cancellation for the parcel identified as Viking Construction, described by staff as nearly $27,000,000 in reduced assessed value; outcome: approved (motion carried). - AIN 345823 (mapping adjustment): Approval to correct duplicated acre/site value, approximately $150,000 valuation change going back to 2022; outcome: approved (motion carried). - AIN 123884 (Logan): Valuation adjustment/cancellation for 2024 and 2025 after an April 2024 fire rendered the home uninhabitable and a warrant of restraint was returned uncollectible; outcome: approved unanimously (3-0). - AIN 334928 (listed as Galker/Quelker): Agricultural exemption reinstated on 4 acres based on grazing income documentation, producing about a $100,000 drop in assessed value; outcome: approved (motion carried).

The meeting opened at 11:01 a.m. and adjourned at about 11:08 a.m. County staff said the larger changes reflect an ongoing effort to refine mapping and valuation processes and to catch historical errors; they also noted that some high-value parcels are now subject to additional review steps to reduce large swings in assessed value.