Paying for the Idaho Power Lawsuit
On Monday, December 30th, the Adams County Commissioner met for their final monthly meeting. District 3 commissioner, Viki Purdy, was not present. The meeting started out with a public hearing for Building Ordinance 2024-02. There was some written comment regarding the ordinance and another resident was present to voice his opinion as well. The written comment was in regards to ag buildings, and whether the proposed new language was in opposition to state code. The commissioners asked county Building Inspector, Kody Williams, several clarifying questions. Williams said he saw the point and he might need to look into it. Commissioner Daren Ward also thought they should have the new county prosecutor look at it before moving forward. Ward said “If I’m a horse guy, and I’m building a barn, and you tell me that’s not an ag building, I’m going to have a problem with that.” Williams said he was just happy that they got some public input and was happy to make changes. The changes will be reposted online for the public to view and there will be a new public hearing scheduled for a future meeting.
Meredith Fisher, with Planning and Zoning, was next, and had only a couple things for the commissioners. She said they are working on a final plat checklist for Mountain Origins, which is related to Brundage.
After Fisher, the commissioners held a public hearing for Election Ordinance 2024-01, regarding maintaining paper ballots for elections. There was no public comment on the ordinance and after the hearing the commissioners passed the ordinance. During the hearing, they addressed other businesses. The commissioners said they need to vote on a new chairman when everyone is there and approved several liquor licenses.
Steve Shelton said everything was going well with Solid Waste. He had questions about quotes on new forklifts for the recycling center. The commissioners didn’t like the prices, but thought if it was in the budget then that’s what they had to do, as their equipment was failing. They also said they would have to start enforcing one of the rules that had thus far been loosely followed at the Transfer Site. Clientele at the New Meadows Transfer Site have been filling up the bins with C&D (Construction and Demolition) waste and ignoring the one yard rule. This is causing traffic jams at the transfer site while they are unloading, and also the county then has to pay to haul it down to the landfill. Also the bins are always full. There is already a rule that only one yard of C&D waste is allowed at a time, and they will be starting to actually enforce it. Commissioner Iveson was sympathetic that residents had to go an extra 30 miles, but said it was a transfer site, not the landfill, and they needed to start taking their large amounts of C&D directly to the landfill.
Commissioner Iveson asked Adam Balderson, with Road and Bridge, about Little Weiser Rd. He said Mahon Logging contacted him because they are concerned about tearing up the road and getting the logging done. Balderson said Valley and other counties will put load restrictions on roads when conditions are similar, but he would hate to do that because it can really kill the loggers. Iveson asked if Balderson could go take a look at it. Balderson said he would. Iveson appreciated how Mahon was always concerned about the road and not causing the county extra expense. Load restrictions weren’t something that Commissioner Iveson was interested in either. If there is a good freeze it would immediately resolve the problem. They also wondered if there might be any provisions in the Forest Service contract regarding road maintenance.
Next, the commissioners again looked at a request for snow plowing on a private road. They had previously requested a hold harmless agreement signed by all of the property owners along the road, in the event the county should accidentally damage a fence or property. Not all of the property owners on the road had signed a hold harmless agreement. Commissioner Daren Ward said those people have been getting the benefit of the one person at the end of the road. Commissioner Iveson thought they should deny it. Ward agreed. Iveson said when it was approved in the past they didn’t realize how many different people lived on the road. The commissioners denied the application for county snow removal due to the inability to obtain hold harmless agreements from all property owners along the route.
Balderson said that Idaho Power and the Oregon Department of Transportation have agreed to meet together on January 21st, at 1:30 about the Oxbow Bridge. ODOT wants to do some repairs on the bridge and it is unclear who is fiscally responsible for the repairs, but they are asking Adams County to help. There is an agreement from the 60s, but the commissioners all thought it might be a good idea to write up a new agreement. They also thought the Idaho Department of Transportation should be involved.
Sheriff Ryan Zollman arrived and told the commissioner there are 27 inmates, 24 state and 3 county. The Little Weiser Irrigation District had several docks donated to them and asked the Sheriff’s Department if they could help install them. Zollman said he would like to use the boating funds. They would maybe like to do a section at Lost Valley Reservoir but wanted to wait and see what happened with the reservoir expansion project first. This year they will use it on Ben Ross Reservoir to make separate docks for boating and swimming, which will improve safety.
Southwest District Health sent a letter saying the typical appointment lasts 3-5 years. Commission Viki Purdy has been in the role for 5 years. Commissioner Ward said he would do it if he had to. They decided to discuss it when Purdy had returned.
Next there was a meeting of elected officials to go over updates and changes to the county personnel policy. Some of these changes included things like updating the vacation policy, adding a no smoking in county building and facilities policy, and changes to how employees could donate accrued sick time to other employees.
After going over the personnel policy, Prosecuting Attorney Chris Boyd, who will soon be leaving for Canyon County, arrived to discuss with the commissioners and other elected officials the Idaho Power lawsuit. Idaho Power sued the State Tax Commission for overvaluing their properties, saying that they should be valued similar to other utilities such as railroads. They originally lost, but the judgment was overturned by the Idaho Supreme Court. Now, almost every county in Idaho owes Idaho Power for the overvaluation for the years 2020, 2021, and 2022. Washington County owes the most, at over one million dollars. Adams County owes around $168,000 when combining all taxing districts, and it is accruing interest at a rate of 10% until they reach an agreement with Idaho Power as to how they are going to pay it.
Prosecutor Boyd said there are a couple of ways they can go about it. They can pay Idaho Power in a lump sum now out of PILT funds, or they could give them a credit on their next tax payments. As per the judgment they have two years to pay it off, and are allowed to do a special judgment levy if necessary. Each taxing district owes a different amount and can pay it in a different manner if they so choose.
Everyone was upset about the results of the lawsuit. Several people asked why the county was responsible for paying the balance when they were following the valuations from the state, and could they sue the state and get them to pay it? Boyd said he agreed it isn’t their fault, they are just a political subdivision of the State of Idaho They can’t sue the state at this point because they are a political subdivision of them. Boyd said “I blame Brad Little for putting a bunch of lefty weirdos on the Supreme Court, that’s my personal thing, that’s not my legal advice!” He said that Idaho power initiated this. The county assessor, Stacy Swift, thought it was lobbyists. “I never would have thought that Idaho Power should have been assessed as a railroad,” she said. She also mentioned it will create a huge tax shift to everyone else and that residential will get the brunt.
Commissioner Joe Iveson asked Boyd if they could negotiate with Idaho Power if they offered them a lump sum. Boyd said they could try, but he doubted that would work, as they have no reason to negotiate, the money is owed either way. Boyd also said he wasn’t sure if he could negotiate with Idaho Power on behalf of all the different taxing districts, and might need to get something in writing from them. The commissioners asked how quickly they need to make a decision, Boyd said not today, but sooner would be better because it is currently accruing interest at a 10% interest rate, which is $1,400 a month. Both commissioners Iveson and Ward were not keen on doing a special judgment levy. Ward said “I hate to punish the people who got no benefit from it.” Iveson said his opinion was they should just pay it for everyone, he didn’t see how they could ask entities like the Cemetery District, the School District, or the Ambulance District, who didn’t have any money anyway, to pay their portion. “They don’t have enough as it is,” said Iveson. They did want to wait until Commissioner Purdy was present to decide for sure, but the next time all the commissioners would be together again would be the end of January, due to various conflicts, and they did not want the balance to keep accruing interest, so they asked Boyd to start negotiations. Ward thought since they were given the option of spreading it out in two payments over two years why not take that option. Iveson just wanted to pay it all off. Boyd clarified and said it seemed they had the ability to spread it out over two years via credits, or make one lump payment. Ward said if that was the case then he agreed with paying it all off, and then they could decide later whether to try and recoup money from the other entities. Commissioner Iveson said they were fortunate they were able to do that, and that they had the extra PILT money for a rainy day. Prosecutor Boyd said he would make sure the new County Prosecutor, who will be starting soon, is kept up to speed on everything
