“Even if the budget stays the same, the levy is going to go up to compensate for the decline in value of your property.”– Chris Rich, Ada County Clerk

Ada County, Idaho, just raised their property tax rates, even though property values are down.

In fact property values dropped 42% since 2006.  But county officials say the rates are going up because people keep passing levys.  The levys are paid for by increasing property taxes, despite what many of those who trick you into passing those levys say.

Some good news for property owners; under Idaho law levys can only affect your taxes so much, until they ‘max out’. As a sign of our bad economy, many officials say the levys are very close to being maxed out.