A 2nd driver’s license office. 2 deputies to patrol 1 area. What’s in Ada’s ’21 budget
Coming to Ada County: A second drivers’ license office. More sheriff’s deputies patrolling the Lucky Peak area. Improvements to a beloved park.
The Ada County commissioners approved a $284.7 million budget Tuesday for fiscal 2021, about $3.3 million less than this year’s.
The budget includes money to staff the new drivers’ license office in Meridian, hire the two deputies to serve eastern Ada County, improve parking and pathways at Barber Park near Harris Ranch, and restore passport issuance. Barber Park is the popular put-in point for rafters who float the Boise River to Ann Morrison Park each summer.
The commissioners made a point of noting that they did not raise revenue to the maximum allowed under state law. That decision will save the owner of an average-priced home — worth about $363,000, Commission Chair Kendra Kenyon said — about $18.65 on December’s tax bill.
“I sincerely hope the tax relief we are able to provide will be helpful as we all navigate these unprecedented times,” Commission Chair Kendra Kenyon said in a release.
But the commissioners also voted to reserve the forgone taxes, totaling $4.2 million, for future years. Idaho law allows local governments to decline to collect some tax money in a certain year but claw it back in later years.
Commissioner Patrick Malloy, the only Republican on the three-person commission, voted against reserving the forgone revenue, saying in a release that “delayed tax does not benefit taxpayers.”
Ada County is one of 28 Idaho counties that agreed to cut property taxes in exchange for money to pay for first responders, a plan proposed by Gov. Brad Little in June. Little offered local governments up to $200 million in federal coronavirus relief money to pay for emergency services personnel for any city or county that would cut that amount from its budget to offer tax relief to its residents.
From 2006 to 2012, Ada County took less in property taxes than it was allotted. Previous Statesman reporting shows that represented about $19.4 million in property taxes, which it clawed back to the tune of $1.7 million in 2014 to balance the county budget and $4.27 million in 2015 to pay for a new 911 dispatch center.
The Ada County commissioners voted last year to claw back forgone taxes again to fund the driver’s license office, allocating about $500,000 for the project at the time. The new office was delayed earlier this year when state legislators considered freezing local government budgets, a bill that ultimately failed. The office, according to a lease agreement obtained by the Statesman, is expected to be on Progress Avenue, just off of South Meridian Road.
Money is also allocated to improve communication for police, fire and EMS in rural parts of Ada County and to improve the drug treatment and mental health courts, including a remodel and new specialists.
The 2021 fiscal year begins Oct. 1.
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