At the August 15th Post Falls City Council meeting the council was presented the FY24 proposed budget for the final time. The Post Falls budget is a far cry from the train wreck that is the Coeur d’Alene budget; Post Falls FY24 comes in lower than FY23 and they are only taking taxes to cover the amount of money that the state legislature wouldn’t let them take from new growth.
During the 2021 Idaho Legislative session, state legislators thought it would be a good idea to limit the amount of money a city can take from new development; whatever the value was of new construction the city was limited to taxing only 90% of the value, whatever the value of new annexations into the city they were limited to taking on only 90% of the value. Closing urban renewal districts were also affected; if a city closed a URD the city can only tax 80% of the value upon closure.
Because the city was not able to tax the new growth at 100% of the property value, they lost out on approximately $299k. The comptroller suggested, and the city council approved, that they only take enough property taxes to cover that $299k, nothing more. So, with no public comment during the hearing, the budget was approved for FY24.
Below is the full budget presentation at the public hearing: