County looks to tax Indian land

Kootenai County commissioners have joined the effort to get property owned by Native Americans on the tax rolls.

Commissioners have asked Kootenai County Assessor Mike McDowell to review the roughly 150 properties owned by the Coeur d’Alene Tribe or other Native Americans in the county and send tax assessments to the owners.

“The board has directed that we place those on the roll and that they pay property tax just like any other property owner,” McDowell said. “It’s something we certainly reviewed with the board, and we certainly concur with their recommendation. I think it’s the proper course of action.”

The decision is a matter of ensuring everyone pays their share for county services that everyone uses, said Kootenai County Commissioner Rick Currie.

“It’s been discussed for some time,” Currie said. “This is property that is not in tribal trust, and anything not in tribal trust is required to pay property tax just like I’m required to pay property tax.”

On June 12, Benewah County commissioners instructed Assessor Teresa Jeffrey to add Indian property to the tax rolls. Jeffrey said last week she will comply with the directive.

“I can’t say what day we’re going to start doing that; it’s going to take some time,” she said. “We’ll have to appraise those properties.”

Jeffrey said her staff is busy preparing appraisals for 2007, a job that won’t be complete until next spring.

It’s unknown when her staff will begin work to assess the Indian property. She estimates about 100 parcels, including some owned by the Coeur d’Alene Tribe, will be affected.

The county won’t know how much tax revenue will be generated until assessments are complete.

“I haven’t had time to get that in our schedule,” she said.

Jeffrey declined to comment when asked whether she agreed with the commissioners’ decision.

In Kootenai County, on the other hand, McDowell said his staff will complete the work in the coming months with assessments mailed to property owners in early November.

“We intend to conclude our work on this in time for a subsequent assessment this fall,” he said.

Property owners will have an opportunity to appeal the assessed value of their property before the county treasurer levies tax bills, which are due Dec. 20. A second payment is due June 20.

There are about 150 parcels owned by Indians in Kootenai County, McDowell said. His staff is working now to determine how many of those are required to pay property tax.

“It will be quite a bit of research,” he said.

The tribe and other Indian owners could avoid the tax by putting their property into trust. Indian trust lands are held by the federal government on behalf of tribal governments or individuals.

Commissioners from both counties based their decision to collect taxes on Indian property on a 1998 U.S. Supreme Court decision. In that case, the court ruled that Indian-owned land in Cass County, Minn., that was not put in trust would be subject to property taxes.

Before that decision, Idaho deemed land owned by Indians exempt from property taxes and directed counties to grant tax exemptions to the owners. But since the ruling, Kootenai and Benewah counties have refused to grant new property tax exemptions to Indians.

Benewah commissioners came under fire when they opted in June to place the properties on the tax rolls. Plummer Mayor Carl Richel blasted the commissioners, saying they had “all but declared war” on the tribe and were “no longer interested in negotiating anything with them.”

Yet David Ryals, president of the Idaho Association of Assessors and Boundary County assessor, said the commissioners were following the law.

“My policy is that everything is taxable and any tribal property that is not in trust is taxable,” Ryals said.

In Boundary County, where property tax is collected on a handful of properties owned by the Kootenai Tribe or individual Indians, the matter is not a source of contention.

“Up here, it’s a normal way that we do business, and the tribe understands that,” Ryals said. “To be honest with you, it’s never really been an issue. For the most part we try to operate that everything is taxable unless it’s under the exempt code.”

Yet many local Native Americans, such as Richard Crowe of St. Maries, believe commissioners have no right to impose the property tax.

Crowe, who owns a home on the west side of St. Maries that is not listed on the county tax rolls, said Indians lived in the area before settlers arrived.

“Just because you build a town on top of the reservation doesn’t mean you can start running everything your way,” he said. “I think it’s a bad idea.”

The issue will likely be stalled in court, said Crowe, a member of the Osage and Seneca-Cayuga Tribes.

“The Indians told me they have a lot of money sitting back to fight this,” he said. “It’s going to be knockdown, drag-out. It’s going to be in court for 100 years. You can’t take something back that doesn’t belong to you.”

When his assessment does arrive, Crowe plans to protest the bill.

“I’m not going to pay it,” he said. “I just think the county commissioners should find more time doing things for the county than trying to get something that doesn’t belong to them.”