Happy September 2024! I sure don’t know where the summer went and how we got here so soon, but here we are! Time just flies by faster and faster each year.
In the Treasurer’s Office, we are gearing up for billing the 2024 Property Taxes. For those of you who don’t know, each county in Idaho levies and collects property tax to support the independent local taxing districts, such as cities, schools, cemeteries, fire districts, libraries, etc.
The taxing process starts with the Assessed Market Value that is issued by the County Assessor’s Office. Once all of the values have been determined for the year, the Assessor’s Office sends out the assessment notice in June. This notifies all property owners what their value will be minus any exemptions for the upcoming tax year.
Once the assessment process is done, each Taxing District creates their budget for what they will need to cover their services for the upcoming tax year. Once their budget is approved at a public hearing, the portion of the budget that will be funded by property taxes is divided by the Total Taxable Value of all of the properties within that Taxing District. This is where the taxable rate for each taxing district comes from.
One thing to remember is there is no legal limit to how much a tax bill can increase or decrease each year. HOWEVER, a taxing district can only raise the property tax portion of their budget by 3% each year. Most of the time, an increase in the tax bill is because there has been an increase in the Market Value of the property.
Once all of the budgets are set for the Taxing Districts, all of the property tax portions of the budgets are compiled together and an overall levy is set for each Tax Code Area. There are currently 85 different Tax Code Areas in Bannock County.
The County Treasurer receives all of this information and is responsible for creating a Tax Bill for each parcel of property in the County. Keep in mind that it is the Treasurer’s responsibility to bill and collect the taxes, but the Treasurer and his/her employees do not set the tax rates or values.
Once the tax bills have been mailed, the taxpayer has two options. The full amount can be paid on or before December 20th. You also have the option to pay the 1st half by December 20th and pay the 2nd half by June 20th of the following year. If the taxes are not paid by the due date, Idaho Code requires that a 2% late fee be added and 1% interest accrues beginning January 1st. This means if the 2nd half does not get paid by June 20th, there will be a 2% late fee added and interest will be charged back to January 1st of that year.
Another thing to remember is that we accept postmark. But it the taxpayer’s responsibility to guarantee that their mail has the postmark on it. In Bannock County most of our mail now goes to Salt Lake or Boise. If you drop it off locally, it might not get postmarked until it gets to one of those locations. This is a problem when it comes to late property taxes. We would suggest that you either take it into the post office to ensure that it gets stamped, or mail it early.
