Voters want solutions, not public insults from leaders

By Rep. Lauren Necochea, D-Boise
Reader Contributor

The safety of your family is perhaps the most local and personal issue. I’ll never forget my first town hall as a state representative. In a neighborhood outside city limits, constituents expressed concern about the lack of adequate fire response for their families. Their fire district wasn’t properly staffed. The district’s hands were tied by state law, which capped its budget using a complex formula. The cap had nothing to do with the level of service needed to keep people and property safe, the service residents desired or what locally elected fire district commissioners deemed appropriate. 

Rep. Lauren Necochea. File photo.

The lack of local control put Idahoans at risk. Sadly, since that day, the Republican supermajority has only made problems worse. House Bill 389 has eroded local control as a distraction from the true property tax solutions Idaho homeowners need. On the way, GOP politicians have lobbed personal attacks at city and county leaders — repeated last month — that are unbecoming and unproductive. 

The need for property tax reform has multiple causes. First, in 2016, Republican legislators (catering to lobbyists) capped the homeowner’s exemption. Before, the exemption automatically went up with home prices. Every Democratic legislator opposed this, foreseeing the unfair shift of the tax load onto homeowners. Second, the Republican leaders’ chronic underfunding of our schools has made districts reliant on levies funded by property taxes. 

By 2022, homeowners saw big jumps in their property taxes, while commercial real estate enjoyed annual decreases. Because this was working exactly as intended, the Republican supermajority did nothing to correct it. Instead, they passed H.B. 389, with a litany of budget restrictions to force local governments to slash public safety services, among other negative impacts. Emergency responders warned about the harms of the legislation, but they went unheeded.

One harmful provision in H.B. 389 reduced the property taxes that could be collected from new growth. This costs the city of Meridian, for example, $1.4 million annually in lost revenue. Giveaways like this mean cost-shifting to existing taxpayers or cuts to services like law enforcement. 

When Meridian Mayor Robert Simison reported the impact of the legislation, the House Speaker Mike Moyle, R-Star, publicly insulted him instead of coming to the table to find solutions. 

No one can explain who wins from H.B. 389 and why Republicans refuse to repeal it. Developers themselves want a repeal because it makes it impossible for many smaller towns to approve new building projects. The law prevents these communities from increasing services with population growth, so their current residents would be forced into diminished public safety. 

The true property tax solutions are not complicated. What’s complicated is the runaround the GOP supermajority has given cities, counties and the people of Idaho. Idahoans deserve better.

Rep. Lauren Necochea is the House assistant Democratic leader, representing District 19 in Boise on the Environment, Energy and Technology; Resources and Conservation; Revenue and Taxation; and Ways and Means committees.