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Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

PERSI reports big percentage drop

BOISE – the Public Employee Retirement System of Idaho dropped from $12 billion to $8.5 billion in the past year, losing $3.5 billion.

“We’re down 25 percent for calendar year ’08,” Jody Olson, chairman of the PERSI board, told lawmakers this week.

In fiscal year 2008, the fund was down just 4.3 percent. Rather than change contribution rates, the PERSI board voted in December to adopt the minimum cost-of-living increase for retirees in the coming year, 1 percent. “Up until last year, our retirees had full purchasing power from the time they retired,” Olson told the Legislature’s Joint Finance-Appropriations Committee.

Don Drum, PERSI executive director, said a contribution rate increase likely will be sought next year. PERSI was 105 percent funded at the beginning of 2008, and 93 percent funded at the end of the year, Drum said. “We’re anticipating that losses are cyclical and the market will rebound,” he told lawmakers. “We’re doing fairly well in comparison to our peer groups.”

Those online thingies

The House State Affairs Committee got hung up when Rep. Raul Labrador, R-Eagle, objected to a clause in a bill from Rep. Steve Hartgen, R-Twin Falls, that sought to outlaw Internet harassment, because it listed “MySpace, Facebook, Friendster, Twitter” along with personal blogs. Labrador asked if there was “a technical term or a term of art” that could be used, rather than listing commercial names.

Hartgen responded with a stab: “Internet posting sites?” But as the committee moved along, Rep. Brent Crane, R-Nampa, jumped in, saying, “They’re called social networking sites.”

Later, Crane, 34, chuckled when teased about being the only committee member who knew that, and said he uses Facebook. “I think it’s a great way to connect with your constituents, I really do,” he said.

‘It’s almost impossible’

Last year, Idaho passed an incentive program to attract film production to the state, but didn’t fund it. This week, Rep. George Eskridge, R-Dover, asked state Commerce Director Don Dietrich whether that ended up helping us or hurting us as far as attracting such businesses.

Dietrich responded, “Unfortunately, it did generate a lot of interest initially. … We did receive numerous phone calls and e-mails. … Yes, they came when you passed the bill, and we were unable to actually generate any dollars to that. … In my own mind, yes, we did lose an opportunity. We have had production companies call on a fairly regular basis, and that activity has backed up somewhat.”

Other states, including Utah, Michigan, Massachusetts, Florida and Louisiana, are courting film productions with big incentives, Dietrich said. “They are pouring millions of dollars into their film programs, so it is very difficult to compete … in fact, it’s almost impossible to pull a production company into the state without something on the table.”

Just making ’em all float the same

Rep. Jim Clark, R-Hayden Lake, has introduced legislation regarding float-homes, an often-contentious issue in North Idaho, but the bill’s not particularly controversial. It changes a definition so that all float homes, regardless of which type of utility hookup and sewer lines they have, are classified as real property rather than personal property for tax purposes. Now, the float homes at Bayview that have sewer lines that connect to onshore systems fit the definition, but some on Lake Coeur d’Alene that have different types of onboard sewage storage systems don’t.

The reason it matters: Last year’s legislation to give businesses a tax break on personal property tax otherwise would unintentionally apply to some float-homes, once it took effect. Clark said the bill came to him from Kootenai County Assessor Mike McDowell.

Fish and Game scales back fee plan

The Idaho Fish and Game Department has revised its proposed fee increase to make it more “modest.” “In the light of tough economic times, Idaho Fish and Game has scaled back a proposed revenue increase to an overall 15 percent instead of 20 percent,” the department announced this week. “Under the new proposal, the resident combination hunting and fishing license would not go up at all.”

Paying taxes is voluntary?

Royce Chigbrow, chairman of the Idaho State Tax Commission, told the Joint Finance-Appropriations Committee this week, “Our tax system depends on the voluntary cooperation of our citizens and businesses,” and the Tax Commission has been working to “sustain the voluntary nature of the tax system.” If this is surprising – perhaps you thought it wasn’t “voluntary” as to whether you pay your taxes or not. Chigbrow said, “In the past fiscal year, voluntary payments totaled $3.39 billion, while another $200 million was brought in through audit and collection activities.” He added, “To put it another way, 95 percent of the revenue over the years has been brought in through voluntary” payments.

The key to that, he told lawmakers, is “maintaining an adequate audit presence,” saying, “Consider for a moment what would happen to voluntary collection if no one worried about being audited or no one was concerned about the accuracy of their returns. Obviously,” he said, it is “essential” to keep “honest taxpayers’ trust in the system,” that “Those who don’t pay their taxes or don’t pay their fair share will be identified and pursued.”

Betsy Z. Russell can be reached toll-free at (866) 336-2854 or bzrussell@gmail.com. For more news from Boise go to www.spokesman.com/boise.