Floating Homes May Get Rent Break Proposal Would Lower New Appraisals By 75%; Full Land Board Must Give Ok

Owners of floating homes on Idaho lakes would have to pay at least $250 per year in rent for using state waters - but that’s only a quarter as much as the state originally sought.

The compromise was worked out by a subcommittee of the state Land Board and will be presented to the full Land Board today for approval.

“They’re trying to be fair,” said Denny Davis, a Coeur d’Alene attorney who represents the Floating Homes Association.

State controller J.D. Williams said the state Lands Department’s original proposal was too high. It prompted protests from owners of float homes at Bayview and elsewhere in North Idaho.

Many of North Idaho’s floating homes date from the 1920s and 1930s and are usable only a few months of the year. Lew Wilson, president of the Floating Homes Association, told the Land Board last month that 87 percent of his group’s members are senior citizens.

Under new guidelines that will apply to all marinas next year, marinas pay 3.75 percent of gross moorage fees for the privilege of parking boats on state-owned waters. Float home owners argued they should be charged the same.

Under the new compromise, Davis calculated that float home owners will pay more than 2-1/2 times as much as those with boats. “The association still feels that it’s not fair to charge floating homes a rate that is still several times that required for boats,” he said.

In addition to the state rents, float home owners pay property taxes on the value of their homes.

At a meeting of the subcommittee late last week, float home owners proposed that they pay 3.75 percent of moorage, then offered a minimum $150 rate. The Land Board members bumped that up to 3.75 percent or $250, whichever is higher.

“Our thinking is that the department’s minimum lease rate is $250 to cover their costs,” Williams said.

The subcommittee, which also includes Attorney General Al Lance and Superintendent of Schools Anne Fox, voted unanimously for the compromise.

The three subcommittee members make up a majority of the Land Board, which also includes Gov. Phil Batt and Secretary of State Pete Cenarrusa. So the proposal is likely to win approval today.

The subcommittee did not consider Attorney General Al Lance’s proposal that out-of-state residents who own floating homes or lease state-owned cabin sites be charged an extra fee.

Williams said the board will have to deal with that issue later, after Lance finishes researching it.

, DataTimes MEMO: This sidebar appeared with the story: Also on the agenda The Land Board also will hear today from a second subcommittee, which includes Williams, Cenarrusa and Fox, that is looking at how the state sets cabin site rents. Cabin owners have successfully protested plans for sharp increases designed to bring rent for the sites up to market rates. The subcommittee is recommending looking into how much rents would change if they were calculated solely by looking at the market, rather than by a percentage of market value. The subcommittee also is working on a process for cabin owners who want to appeal the values assigned to their lots. Many Priest Lake cabin owners have objected to sharply higher values set by the Bonner County assessor, which then caused their rents to rise.