Wednesday, June 28, 2006

'How can we do a better job?'

Jaquet, citizens push for property tax remedies


By STEVE BENSON
Express Staff Writer

In the wake of another massive spike in Blaine County's property assessments, Idaho Rep. Wendy Jaquet, D-Ketchum, and members of the Idaho State Tax Commission met with Blaine County officials Tuesday to discuss the problem and plan for future solutions.

Blaine County property values rose a staggering 18 percent, from $9.8 billion to $11.9 billion this year. In 2005, assessments jumped a county record 21 percent, from $8 billion to $9.8 billion.

Jaquet believes the problem can be remedied with property sales price disclosure, but the state of Idaho, which is a non-disclosure state, doesn't see eye-to-eye. Jaquet has introduced disclosure legislation to the Idaho State Legislature several times, to no avail.

Jaquet said most people are paying too much on their taxes because of insufficient data—juts 13.6 percent of all county real estate transactions were reported to County Assessor Valdi Pace last year.

"It has been a very tough assessment year, and we are not finished," Pace said Tuesday. "If we don't have the information, how can we do a better job? If we have more information, better information, we can do a better job."

There are also fears that the increased assessment will make it even harder for the county's workforce to remain in the Wood River Valley, where home prices are already sky high, as noted by Scott Curtis, who lives in Ketchum.

"All of us in this room are well enough off," Curtis said. "But I haven't heard anyone talk about people working and surviving in this county. I feel that we need to think about them and their plight.

"They can't even afford to buy a home here anymore."

Several local real estate agents and landowners—some of whom have been opposed to disclosure in the past—attended Monday's meeting and voiced support for Jaquet.

Jed Gray, a realtor with Sun Valley Associates, said the Sawtooth Board of Realtors, which represents 395 real estate agents from 77 offices throughout the Wood River Valley, recently decided to share listing data to help Pace develop her assessments.

"Non-disclosure is hurting our agency as well," said Gray, who's also a proponent of the Real Estate Transfer Tax, which was once again introduced by Jaquet and killed by the Idaho Legislature this year. "I don't think Wendy and (Sen. Clint Stennett, D-Ketchum) had any support, and they need support.

"As you guys know we're falling behind the other resort communities in what we can provide."

The problem is that Idaho is not a home-rule state, meaning counties can not control their own destiny and must go through legislators to pass tax laws.

Dick Fenton, of McCann Daech Fenton Realtors, said "we need to figure out politically and tactically how to get disclosure. We should have the right to tax ourselves if we choose."

Daniel John, of the Idaho State Tax Commission, and Jaquet both believe the best option will be to introduce a local option real estate disclosure bill to the Legislature next session.

"What I saw last year from the Legislature is that they're not ready to go statewide (but they) might be willing to allow local option disclosure," Jaquet said.

She added that education of the public on the importance of such a measure needs to be bolstered.

She said she's confident that "we'll have more success" in the future.




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