Plans for additional auctions of state endowment-owned cottage sites on Priest and Payette lakes won approval from the state Land Board today, calling for 60 lots a year to be auctioned for the next three years. A random drawing, conducted by the Idaho Lottery, was made from among all those leasing lots who want their lots to go into the auction, and priority order numbers were assigned to each lot, letting them know in which order each would come up for auction. At auction, the current lessees can bid on the land under their cabins, as can others; the vast majority thus far have sold for the appraised value, which is the starting bid, to the current lessee. So far, Idaho has auctioned off 31 cottage sites at Payette Lake and 59 at Priest Lake.

There were actually 278 lake lot lessees interested in auctions and issued numbers, 72 percent of the 385 total state lots at the two lakes. If a lot comes up for auction and the lessee isn’t ready to proceed, the next number on the list moves up, if that one is ready. The proceeds from the auctions go largely to the permanent endowment fund for schools.