Cabin sites: ‘We are in disposal mode’

The state Land Board has begun the cabin-site rent issue; subcommittee Chairman Ben Ysursa, Idaho Secretary of State, noted that at its last meeting, the board voted to work toward eventually getting out of the cabin-site business, through selling or exchanging the properties. The board also voted to go with a 10-year lease when all its state-owned cabin sites at Payette and Priest lakes come up for renewal on Dec. 31, 2010. Since then, Ysursa said, the subcommittee has met again with cabin-site owners, and discussed a new proposal on premium rent. The subcommittee still is sticking with its previous rent proposal of 4 percent of value, based on an average of the past 10 years’ values, phased in over five years, and recalculated every five years. “We have not gotten off the 4-10-5,” Ysursa said.

The new proposal for premium rents, which are paid when the state leases change hands, would set it at either 10 percent of the gross leasehold value - where it is now - or 50 percent of the net leasehold value at sale. Originally, the subcommittee had been looking to phase in a 50 percent premium rent. “We are in a disposal mode,” Ysursa said. “The least amount of chaos or disruption would be the way to go while we’re in this transitional mode.”