NIC property tax line items, explained

COEUR d'ALENE — Line items labeled "judgement" and "tort" that appear on property tax notices this year aren't related to any lawsuits at North Idaho College, officials confirmed Wednesday.

Three items for NIC appear on property tax notices. The first represents the $18 million that NIC collects in property taxes.

The next line item, labeled "North Idaho College tort," represents the cost of NIC's liability insurance. Idaho law allows all political subdivisions to allocate a portion of their total levy request to cover the cost of liability insurance.

Sarah Garcia, NIC's vice president for finance and business, said the tort has been part of NIC's total budget request for more than 15 years and normally appears as a single line item, combined with the main tax.

"I cannot explain why the tort line came out as a separate line this year," she said. "I have no control over that."

The final line item, labeled "North Idaho College judgement," does not refer to a judgment made in any lawsuit against NIC.

Kootenai County Treasurer Steve Matheson said Wednesday that the line item is related to judgments in six lawsuits against the state or the county for properties that were overvalued.

"Those judgments are applicable to most jurisdictions, but definitely NIC because they are county-wide," Matheson said. "All of those judgments are related to valuations. They have nothing to do with any lawsuits at NIC."

For NIC, the judgment amounts to $27,720.47, according to the Kootenai County Treasurer's Office.

Matheson said the Idaho State Tax Commission advised Kootenai County to break out the judgment as a separate line item.

"It's important for the readers of tax statements to know that component was due to a judgment," he said.

Many jurisdictions did not levy for those judgments this year, Matheson said, possibly because the dollar amount is relatively small. They may choose to do so in the coming year or two.