Idahoans can put taxes on credit card
Idahoans now have a chance to combine two financial afflictions: Credit card debt and property taxes.
That’s because a new law has taken effect allowing property taxpayers to pay their bills by credit card, debit card or electronic funds transfer, if counties choose to offer that option.
That couldn’t happen before because a longstanding state law required property taxes to be paid in “legal tender,” which included only cash or checks. “There are some counties that were using credit cards, they were using them for vehicle registration and things like that,” said Tony Poinelli, deputy director of the Idaho Association of Counties. “But there’s always been a question whether credit cards and debit cards were considered legal tender under the law. So this modernized it.”
The measure, HB 420, passed both houses of the Legislature unanimously, and took effect on July 1. That was too late, however, for the June 20 biannual property tax payment, so the first big chance for the new payment options will be the December payment.
Poinelli said he didn’t think the prospect of being able to put taxes on a credit card would get taxpayers into financial trouble. He said citizens had been asking counties why they couldn’t pay by more up-to-date methods.
LaRocco poll: Idahoans now against Bush
Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Larry LaRocco this week released the results of a poll that showed 54 percent of respondents holding an unfavorable view of President George W. Bush, a stark turnaround from Bush’s 68.4 percent vote tally in Idaho in the 2004 presidential election.
LaRocco’s poll, conducted by Democratic pollster Celinda Lake, also showed Republican Jim Risch leading LaRocco 43 percent to 28 percent, with independent Rex Rammell getting 6 percent. But the LaRocco campaign said the Democratic candidate pulled ahead when respondents “heard about Risch and LaRocco’s stances on the issues and were asked to vote again.”
The poll, taken May 20-25, surveyed 500 likely Idaho voters and had a margin of error of 4.5 percent.
It’s not happening, but comment on it
This was as puzzling as could be.
Just a week after the Idaho Transportation Board received a report on the Dover Bridge on Highway 2 in North Idaho, declared the 71-year-old bridge safe but still sorely in need of replacement and bemoaned the fact that there’s no money to do it – the project isn’t in the ITD’s five-year plan at this point – Eye on Boise received a press release from the state Department of Environmental Quality calling for public comments on permits for wetlands filling “to construct a replacement bridge on U.S. Highway 2 near Dover.” Comments are due by July 25.
So is the bridge replacement happening? Did someone find the $25 million? What the heck? “I was surprised, because ITD had a sense of urgency with this, so we were really trying to get it out the door quickly for them,” said June Bergquist in the DEQ’s Coeur d’Alene Regional Office.
It turns out that nothing has changed with the funding status for the project – it’s still not scheduled for funding. What’s happening is a federal environmental permit for the project that was issued back in 2005 is expiring and needs renewing. “We want to be able to maintain a project on the shelf that we could pull down immediately, if we have the funding,” said Barbara Babic, spokeswoman for the ITD’s district office in Coeur d’Alene. “So, yeah, if the permit expires, we’re going after it just to keep it current. If $25 million fell into our lap, and we could use it on the Dover Bridge, there would be no delays on the part of the design and being able to take it out to bid.”
Nicholle Braspennickx, regulatory project manager for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, said, “That’s exactly what’s happening – they’re trying to make sure their authorizations stay current, so that should the money come around … because it is in bad shape, the Dover Bridge. They do need to replace that bridge.”