Residents react to skyrocketing property assessments

When Carole Pruett and her husband Tom bought their home in the Bel Aire neighborhood in Idaho Falls more than 30 years ago, it cost $15,000.

In the last 10 years, she’s watched her property value go up at about the same amount as that initial purchase price, until this year when her property assessment increased by $55,000.

Pruett’s home was recently appraised at $255,000, she said. Idaho residents won’t know how much they will pay in their annual property taxes following the recent appraisals until later this year, but Pruett said she would’ve had to pay about $1,800 last year excluding discounts like the homeowners’ exemption.

“That sounds good if you’re going to sell,” Pruett, 79, said. “But if you’re trying to subsist on even a moderate income, that’s a chunk of change.”

The Bel Aire neighborhood originally was designed to contain affordable housing for low-income families looking to buy starter homes, but local residents including Pruett say homes in the neighborhood may no longer be attainable for first-time buyers after recent property assessment increases.

Bel Aire homes are almost all identical and use similar floor plans with two bedrooms and one bathroom, Pruett said. The houses are about 800 square feet and weren’t built with garages, although Pruett did build a garage at her house.

According to zillow.com, most homes in the neighborhood are valued around $200,000 to $300,000 and most properties are just over a tenth of an acre in size. Earlier this month, Bonneville County property assessments for affordable houses increased on average by about 50%, according to the assessor’s office.

Another Bel Aire resident, Luann Buckmaster, said she bought her home in 2003 for $50,000, and felt she overpaid. On Friday, Zillow estimated her home’s value to be over $236,000.

Buckmaster said with the homeowner’s exemption, she paid nearly $1,000 in property taxes last year.

Under Idaho law, 50% of a homeowner’s primary residence’s value is exempted from property taxes, but the exemption is capped at $125,000, meaning homes assessed at $250,000 or more receive the maximum exemption.

Without the exemption, Buckmaster calculated by doubling her property tax payments that she would have had to pay over $1,800 in property taxes, she said. In 2017, she paid $640 with the exemption.

Buckmaster said she makes just over $1,000 a month off Social Security, her only source of income. In response to inflation and higher taxes, she’s cut her grocery budget substantially and has recently stopped buying meat.

“I haven’t ate red meat in over a year,” Buckmaster said. “Who can afford it?”

Idaho counties use levy formulas to determine property taxes to fund government services such as schools and roads, among others. In some instances, property taxes may decrease if the assessed value increases depending on where the home is located and if local government budgets decrease.

Many residents such as Pruett and Buckmaster fear their property taxes will see a substantial spike in the coming months based off their new assessments and inflation likely increasing the amount of money local governments budget.

Some Idaho legislators have suggested increasing the state sales tax while reducing property taxes and a bill was drafted in the House during the 2022 Idaho Legislative session. However, the bill never made it to the House floor.

The Idaho Capital Sun reported many lawmakers criticized a 2021 bill that raised the homeowner’s exemption from $100,000 — a cap first put into law in 2016 — to $125,000 as a flat rate for not going far enough, and legislators haven’t passed a bill that matches the homeowner’s exemption to current market values.

Buckmaster said she is frustrated by the county’s usage of the term “affordable homes” because she feels neighborhoods like hers have become unaffordable for people looking to buy a house in the area or for residents on limited income.

Patrick Malone, president of Idaho Realtors and real estate agent with Century 21, earlier told the Post Register in January “there are no affordable houses in Idaho.”

Pruett said she initially thought her home was going to be temporary when she first moved in. But over the course of three decades, she grew to love the area and it saddens her to see her neighbors be burdened with the costs of what she believes are overvalued homes.

“These are real people, they’re down-to-earth, hardworking, wonderful neighbors,” Pruett said. “I have loyalty to these people around here. I know how hard they work.”

A January report from Fitch Ratings placed Idaho Falls in the top three overvalued housing markets in the nation, behind Boise and Coeur d’Alene, the top two, respectively.

“I believe they’re going to tax us out of here,” Pruett said. “If they manage to get us out here, where are we going to go?”