Payette Lake Cottages Likely To Get Break On Rent Increase

Payette Lake cottage lessees will likely see a much smaller increase in their 1998 rent than what the Idaho Land Board proposed in June.

Three members of the Idaho Land Board agreed on a new lease policy for 1998 during an Oct. 7 subcommittee meeting in Boise.

If all three vote to adopt the policy during Tuesday’s land board meeting, they would comprise a majority on the five-member board and the policy would be enacted next year.

State Controller J.D. Williams, State Superintendent of Public Instruction Anne Fox and Secretary of State Pete Cenarrusa will recommend hiking lease rates to 2.5 percent of the 1992 assessed value, or a 25 percent increase over the rent charged in 1997, whichever is higher, said Williams, the subcommittee chairman.

Jack Flaherty, a Valley County Realtor and Pilgrim Cove lessee, said the new proposed policy is more reasonable than the land board’s decision in June to hike rents to present-day full assessed value.

Flaherty said he expects that westside lakefront lessees may see an increase of $555 to $812 per year, the highest increases around the lake. Others will see less of an increase, he said.

The cottage lease rate subcommittee was charged with coming up with a new policy for 1998 after land board members heard hundreds of complaints from Payette Lake and Priest Lake lessees in June and July.