BOISE, Idaho — The City of Boise is in the thick of their budget cycle as they get closer to approving a final budget for the 2024 fiscal year.
Budgeting decisions made now have major impacts on the future, a major question is always: where will city leaders make the priorities?
Tuesday in Boise Mayor Lauren McLean watched alongside City Council as the proposed budget was presented during a special council meeting.
The proposed budget and report city council saw Tuesday is available for everyone to study online so they can comment and provide feedback.
Let the city know what you think about how they spend your tax dollars in an upcoming public hearing.
The Mayor set the tone early Tuesday saying the budget reflects the values, goals, and visions her administration has.
"I'm really excited about the advancements that we are able to make. Thanks to the team in especially housing safety parks, open space and doing that well, giving back through the circuit breaker rebate program,” McLean said.
Overall, the city of Boise's general fund budget is about $300 million dollars.
That is generated by tax dollars including property taxes.
Mayor McLean proposes a base growth rate of 2%, that is lower than the allowable increase of 3%. The mayor says that keeping the growth rate below the allowable increase has saved Boise taxpayers $7.5 million since 2020.
End result, most Boise homeowners can expect some savings.
"You can see that the 2% increase recommended within this budget is expected to result in a decrease of approximately $138 for the average priced home, saving approximately $14 as compared to of the city were to take the full increase," said Eric Bilimoria, City of Boise Budget Manager.
Boise will also continue the city program that provides property tax relief to elderly, disabled, and widowed homeowners. Basically Idaho’s ‘circuit breaker’ program on the state level, but done at the city level.
Proposal is to put another $1.2 million into the program. Boise reports that nearly 90% of eligible taxpayers used the program in 2023.
Of note, Idaho lawmakers passed major property tax relief this past session. The overall impacts and savings of that in Boise and across Idaho are still in calculation.
So, what does Boise propose spending on?
Well, a lot of salaries, per normal. About half of the general fund is dedicated to public safety.
Boise police, fire, and police accountability have a big chunk, about 50% of the budget. Parks, recreation, libraries, and some other categories like public works fill out the budget by department.
A portion of new costs in the budget include new positions the city proposes across departments.
Staying in line with the previous topics, public safety sees a large chunk of requests with 12 new full-time positions.
That is split 9 for Boise Police and 3 for Boise fire. Some proposed positions reflect recent changes as well to work on the new zoning code. Overall, about 27 new full-time employees are proposed for the year out of the general fund.
There are some fee increases proposed in the budget, things like business licenses and permits; parking, building permits; parks user fees for sports activities, classes, camps, facility reservations.
City says increased fees are generally in response to increasing costs.
If you want to weigh in, and you should, public testimony is on July 11th 6pm at city council.
Written submissions are also accepted, those can be submitted online.
Join 'The 208' conversation:
- Text us at (208) 321-5614
- E-mail us at the208@ktvb.com
- Join our The 208 Facebook group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/the208KTVB/
- Follow us on Twitter: @the208KTVB or tweet #the208 and #SoIdaho
- Follow us on Instagram: @the208KTVB
- Bookmark our landing page: /the-208
- Still reading this list? We're on YouTube, too:
HERE ARE MORE WAYS TO GET NEWS FROM KTVB:
Download the KTVB News Mobile App
Apple iOS: Click here to download
Google Play: Click here to download
Stream Live for FREE on ROKU: Add the channel from the ROKU store or by searching 'KTVB'.
Stream Live for FREE on FIRE TV: Search ‘KTVB’ and click ‘Get’ to download.