The Latah County commissioners on Wednesday agreed to join the growing list of cities and counties that may take part in Gov. Brad Little’s $200 million property tax relief plan.
The commissioners approved a letter of interest expressing qualified support for the program, which would allocate as much as $200 million in federal coronavirus relief funds to local government entities to pay the salaries and benefits for their public health and public safety staff incurred between March 1 and Dec. 30.
To qualify for the payments, cities and counties must pass the savings along to taxpayers by reducing their fiscal 2021 property tax levies an equivalent amount.
They also have to freeze 2021 property tax collections, meaning they couldn’t take any part of the standard 3 percent increase in property tax revenues or tap any forgone taxes banked in previous years. The only allowable increase in 2021 property tax revenues would be for new construction and annexations.
As is the case in other cities and counties across the state, Latah County officials question the legality of the proposal.
The $200 million would come from Idaho’s share of the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act, which Congress passed in March.
As initially approved, the act prohibits state and local governments from using the money to replace lost revenues — or to pay for expenses already budgeted before the coronavirus reached pandemic levels.