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Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Eye On Boise

House Rev & Tax backs deal for state purchase of HP’s West Boise campus

With just Rep. Ron Nate objecting – and he said he was only objecting “for now” – the House Revenue & Taxation Committee this morning approved HCR 29, authorizing the state to purchase the Hewlett-Packard campus in West Boise to house state agencies, in a $126 million bonding deal that includes lease-back provisions under which H-P and other tenants would continue to occupy a portion of the site for a number of years. Under separate legislation introduced yesterday in the House Ways & Means Committee and also passed out of Rev & Tax this morning, HB 315, the state would collect those lease payments from the other tenants and use them to offset the cost of the deal.

Between those payments and no longer needing to pay annual leases or rent for state agencies including the state Tax Commission, all costs would be offset, and the state would only need to spend the $2 million needed to relocate the Tax Commission, according to the resolution’s fiscal note.

Wayne Meuleman, executive director of the Idaho State Building Authority, told the committee that the move will provide for state office needs for the next 50 years. “In my view, this is a really major step forward in the state’s future planning for space needs and reducing cost to the taxpayers,” he said.

Nate, R-Rexburg, questioned whether bonding might be unconstitutional; Meuleman said no, and explained that the bonds of the building authority are not considered debts of the state, and the bondholders are the ones who take on the risk.

Nate said he wondered if continuing to rent and lease state office space might be just as good a deal. “This seems to me like a good deal that came along,” he said, like spotting a good deal on a used car. “It sounds tempting.” But he said he wondered if the state would spend $126 million on buildings without the HP deal. Nate also said he recently visited the state Tax Commission offices, and it “seems like they had plenty of space.”

Rep. Janet Trujillo, R-Idaho Falls, said, “The problem is that the building where the Tax Commission is housed at this time has been sold.” She said it would cost the state far more than $126 million to construct buildings like those it would be buying. “When you run the numbers, you look at our interest rates, they’re really low at this time,” she said. “This I believe is a taxpayer-friendly piece of legislation.”

Rep. Greg Chaney, R-Caldwell, said he wanted to hijack Nate’s metaphor. “We’re spotting a good deal on a used car from the window of a bus, because we need to move the Tax Commission and we need to move them quickly,” he said.

Rep. Dell Raybould, R-Rexburg, said, “With the testimony we’ve had here this morning and the figures that were presented, this looks like this would be a very, very good business decision for the state, in view of the fact that there are several state agencies whose leases are expiring. And the cost … would be less than the additional cost of leasing to the state.”

HCR 29 now moves to the full House.



Betsy Z. Russell
Betsy Z. Russell joined The Spokesman-Review in 1991. She currently is a reporter in the Boise Bureau covering Idaho state government and politics, and other news from Idaho's state capital.

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