What to Watch: Week of January 25

County officials should keep eyes on three items this week. First, The Senate Local Government and Taxation Committee will likely meet on either Wednesday (27th) or Thursday (28th) to hear Senate Bill 1021. Senate Bill 1021 proposes an annual cap on local government property tax increases of 3% for those entities that have new construction …

From the Executive Director: Week of January 25

Property tax reform is on deck in the Idaho Senate. Last week, the Senate Local Government and Taxation Committee introduced legislation to impose additional limitations on annual property tax budget increases. Simply put, Senate Bill 1021 proposes capping annual property tax budget increases in counties with less than 2% new construction growth at 3%. For …

What to Watch: Week of January 18

Property tax budget caps and newly proposed PDC Rules are at the top of our list for what to keep an eye on this week. We anticipate property tax budget cap legislation to be introduced as early as this week in the Senate Local Government and Taxation Committee. The committee meets every Tuesday, Wednesday, and …

From the Executive Director: Week of January 18, 2021

In the coming days (and the weeks that follow) the Legislature is set to introduce a series of property tax reform bills with the aim of further restricting local government property tax budget increases. When the dust settles, a bill will be introduced to cap annual property tax budget increases at around 4% (inclusive of …

From the Executive Director: Week of January 11, 2021

Monday marked the start of the 2021 Idaho Legislative Session. This Session will be remembered long into the future. As the Legislature convenes to advance legislation impacting counties, IAC will be your voice at the Capitol. Each week you will receive the IAC Legislative Bulletin in your inbox. The Bulletin includes featured articles about legislation …

Governor’s State of the State Address: Highlighting County Issues

Yesterday, Governor Brad Little delivered the State of the State address in a new format—virtually. The speech was short in comparison to years past without the usual breaks for legislative applause. It clocked-in around 30 minutes long. With a theme of “Building Idaho’s Future,” he touched on several topics that will be of interest to …

Check Out IAC’s Data Portal!

IAC has been brainstorming ideas for how to get county-specific data to our members for quite some time now. Our goal is to ensure our members the latest and most germane information so you are never in the dark about what’s happening. Enter the new IAC data portal! On the Research & Data tab at …

Local and State Election Analysis

While most of America was glued to national elections news this past week, IAC has been tracking local and state election results in the Gem State. Both at the county and state level, turnover will be less than usual come January. At the county level, there will be 20 new county commissioners in 17 counties. …

County Spotlight: Benewah County

Benewah County was established by an act of the Idaho Legislature on January 23, 1915, of land partitioned from Kootenai County and was named for a chief of the Coeur d’Alene Tribe.  The settlement of Benewah County began after the completion of Mullan Road in 1860, but most settlers came to the area after the discovery of …

2020 General Election Results

The results are in! IAC has compiled a list of the results for the county candidates for the general election: https://indd.adobe.com/view/b12a6335-2cec-4f99-ac37-5bb5028bc11b. Results for all Idaho races can be found on the Idaho Secretary of State’s website: https://www.livevoterturnout.com/Idaho/LiveResults/1/en/Index_113.html.