Idaho board approves Priest Lake reappraisals

BOISE – Idaho’s state Land Board approved new appraisals for hundreds of state-owned cabin sites at Priest Lake on Wednesday, though lot renters who’ve long had their cabins on the lots objected.

The state will allow the renters two weeks to make factual corrections to the appraisals; many plan to appeal. The appraisals again came in much higher than 2012 values, but state officials said the 2012 appraisals were flawed.

The values matter because they’re the basis for calculating annual rent on the land and are a starting point for auctions in which cabin owners – or others – could have the opportunity to buy the land under the cabins from the state. The state has been working for several years to get out of the cabin-site renting business, in favor of other land investments that bring greater earnings to the beneficiaries of Idaho’s state endowment, the largest of which is the state’s public schools.