Tax commission won’t investigate Kootenai County complaint
COEUR d’ALENE — The Idaho State Tax Commission said it lacks authority to investigate a complaint about Kootenai County’s failure to provide “accurate and timely” property value information.
Kootenai County Treasurer Steve Matheson submitted the complaint Jan. 4, on the heels of county assessor Béla Kovacs’ own request that the tax commission audit the work processes of five county departments, including his own.
“Fundamentally, the issues that Kootenai County have brought to the tax commission’s attention are matters of administrative and management discretion,” a Feb. 2 response letter said in part. “It would not be appropriate for the tax commission to involve itself in these issues.”
Both Matheson and Kovacs submitted their complaints under an administrative rule addressing the investigation of written complaints “related to property tax assessment or administration.”
Kovacs sought a “comprehensive audit of the computer system(s), work processes, business workflows, technical process steps” performed by the county’s IT department, as well as the offices of the assessor, clerk, treasurer and commissioners, in the wake of a $53 million valuation error that delayed the distribution of tax notices last year.
Matheson’s complaint described “delays, errors and omissions in the value of information” that have interrupted the generation of levy rates for all taxing districts in Kootenai County.
The commission ultimately concluded both complaints are beyond its authority to investigate.
“I’m not really surprised by their decision,” Matheson said Friday.
He said he submitted his own complaint in part to get a valid Rule 120 complaint on record, as Kovacs’ was unsigned and thus unofficial, as well as to formalize his “deep and growing” concerns that Kootenai County properties are not being fairly and equitably assessed.
Those concerns have not been assuaged.
“My frustrations continue to grow,” Matheson said.
In a Feb. 5 email, Kovacs described Matheson’s complaint about problems in his office as “much ado about nothing” and said he believes the commission’s response validates some of his own concerns, which he had outlined in his own complaint.
“Kootenai County’s manner of implementing the computer system is a source of dysfunction in the county,” he said.
Kovacs has repeatedly criticized the county’s computer system.
“As assessor, I need a reliable computer system that is not built on a house of cards,” he said in his November 2023 complaint to the tax commission.
The commission noted that counties throughout Idaho use similar computer systems to fulfill their statutory duties.
“Although Kootenai County’s system may be old, it is not outdated and still functions in a way that allows the county to satisfy its statutory duties,” the commission said. “The tax commission will continue to provide the necessary support for the system, but it is the county that has the responsibility to train and supervise its staff in the proper use of the computer system.”
The commission also acknowledged allegations that the values reported on Kootenai County’s abstracts were finalized after the statutory deadline and references to a keying error resulting in the $53 million valuation error.
“These mistakes occur regularly throughout the state,” the commission said. “They are solved statewide with solutions specific to the individual problems, the same way they were solved in Kootenai County this year.”
“Personnel matters, professional inadequacy, mismanagement and general dissatisfaction” with the assessor’s office are not within the Idaho State Tax Commission’s purview, according to the response to Matheson’s complaint.
Instead, the commission “strongly recommends” Kootenai County hire a third-party consultant to advise the county on the best way to streamline operations.
Kovacs