Ada County didn’t increase its property taxes to the full amount allowed by Idaho law, but it came close in a year of tight budgets for local governments statewide.
Last week, the Ada County Commissioners finished deliberating on the county’s roughly $277 million budget for fiscal year 2026. This budget cycle, which, like other localities in the Treasure Valley, gave commissioners less wiggle room than usual for adding new personnel and projects due to rising costs for everything from healthcare premiums, risk insurance, software, to food in the Ada County jail.
The final draft they settled on, which could still change before it’s officially adopted later this summer, will increase property tax collections 2.9%, impose a tax increase on all new construction in the county, and give every county employee up to a 4% raise. The raises are split between 2.5% merit-based raises and an automatic 1.5% cost-of-living raise across the board. The budget will impact the average Ada County home valued at $481,900 by $33, bringing the county’s portion of the average homeowner’s property tax bill to $584…