Annual Property Tax Notices Going out Soon
Adams County property tax bills will be mailed out soon. If you’re wondering whether your taxes will be higher this year, the answer is: it depends. There are many factors that go into the making of an individual’s property tax.
A quick answer from Adams County Treasurer Tonjua Spelman said that for many people, property taxes would increase slightly. But that depends on where, in Adams County, you live and whether the different taxing districts have increased their tax levies, and also whether you have made personal improvements to your property.
Adams County Assessor Stacy Swift said that overall, valuation of property in Adams County has increased by six percent. That change can be due to new subdivisions, changes in land use, new construction, and current sales and others.
If you live in one of the subdivisions that are close to McCall, your property taxes could increase as much as 20%. But again, it depends on any improvements you may have made to your property and whether the individual taxing districts have increased their levies.
For instance, if you live in a subdivision in Adams County that is close to the Valley County line, you do not pay taxes to the Meadows Valley Fire District, nor to the McCall Fire District. You do, however, receive an individual bill from the McCall Fire District and you do pay a tax levy to the Joint McCall School District.
Because Idaho is a non-disclosure state, homeowners are not required to tell the county what they paid for the purchase of a home or of land.
According to Swift, only realtors who use the Multiple Listing Service (MLS) must report the selling price of a home or property. Or landowners themselves may choose to disclose to the county what they paid to purchase a home or land. This makes it more difficult to find a home’s market value because not all comparisons of what similar homes sold for in a particular location are available to the county.
Tax levies for the Council area are not the same as for the New Meadows area. Most areas have county, school, library, cemetery, ambulance and fire district taxes, but Council also has a flood tax levy, whereas New Meadows does not.
This year, The Council School District had asked for (and voters approved) a $130,000 (per year) tax levy, but the state stepped in and paid them $147,000, so they are only asking for a tort levy of $18,000 from local property taxpayers.
And according to Spelman, this year the State of Idaho Legislature made some changes that will affect property taxes. They took away the additional tax relief on ground but kept the homeowners tax relief.
Spelman said Homeowner Tax Reduction (HTR) provides relief to the property of taxpayers who own and occupy their homes. This tax relief credit is applied only to parcels with a Homeowner’s Exemption (HOE) and will be paid by the State and reflected as a credit on one’s tax bill. This is a percentage of the home’s value and is calculated using the sum of the HTR lists provided statewide, divided by the amount allocated in the Tax Relief Account held by the State. HOE’s must have been applied for by the 2nd Monday last July to be eligible for this credit. Applications received after that date may still receive a HOE but not the additional HTR credit. If your property already qualified for a HOE you did not need to reapply. HTR will not apply to newly built homes completed in 2023.
The State Legislature also kept the School District Facilities Fund (SDFF) which will be paid to eligible school districts’ bonds and temporary supplemental levies using State money to contribute to a reduction in property taxes. Relief will be reimbursed based on daily attendance. Not all school bonds are eligible, but for those that are a credit will appear on the homeowner’s tax bill.
Individual property owners in Adams County won’t know whether their property taxes will increase this year until they open their bills.
