Idaho Association of County Treasurers
Minutes of Meeting
2014 ANNUAL CONFERENCE
Idaho Falls, ID
August 4-7, 2014
The 89th meeting of the Idaho Association of County Treasurer’s was called to order by President, Pauline Malone, at 8:00 a.m.
Radene Barker, Bannock County Treasurer gave the invocation. Idaho Falls American Legion Post #56, presented colors. Kristine Lund, Jefferson County Treasurer, led the Pledge of Allegiance.
The meeting continued with the introduction of guests, since the Idaho Falls Mayor and Chairman, Bonneville County Commissioner hadn’t arrived yet. President Pauline introduced Sandy Zoubek, NACCTFO President and Stanton County, Nebraska Treasurer and Deborah Silver, candidate for Idaho State Treasurer.
Vicky McIntyre, Association Secretary and Ada County Treasurer, conducted the roll call. The following represents the Treasurers and Chief Deputies present:
County / Treasurer / Present / AbsentAda / Vicky McIntyre / X
Adams / Christy Wilson / X
Bannock / Radene Barker / X
Deanna Shannon / X
Bear Lake / Tricia Poulsen / X
Benewah / Sara Sexton / X
Bingham / Janice Lawes / X
Tanna Beal / X
Blaine / Vicki Heuett / X
Gail Peterson / X
Boise / April Hutchings / X
Gina Turner / X
Bonner / Cheryl Piehl / X
Bonneville / Mark Hansen / X
Rachel Depaolo / X
Boundary / Jenny Fessler / X
Butte / Lori Beck / X
Camas / Gayle Bachtell / X
Canyon / Tracie Lloyd / X
Caribou / Diane Crawford / X
Cassia / Patty Justesen / X
Clark / Annette Zweifel / X
Clearwater / Dawn Erlewine / X
Custer / Allicyn Latimer / X
Elmore / Rose Plympton / X
Amber Sloan / X
Franklin / Jeanette McKay / X
Fremont / J'Lene Cherry / X
Marinda Ballard / X
Gem / Connie Goins / X
Gooding / Christine Wines / X
Idaho / Deanna Hall / X
Jefferson / Kristine Lund / X
Jerome / Tevian Kober / X
Kootenai / Tom Malzahn / X
Latah / Lois Reed / X
Lemhi / Mary Ann Heiser / X
Kammy Maughan / X
Lewis / Pauline Malone / X
Lincoln / Ann Youts / X
Madison / Sherry Arnold / X
Minidoka / Laura Twiss / X
Nez Perce / Barbara Fry / X
Regina Pentzer / X
Oneida / Jan Edwards / X
Owyhee / Brenda Richards / X
Payette / Donna Peterson / X
Power / Deanna Curry / X
Shoshone / Ellen Masterson / X
Teton / Bonnie Hatch / X
Twin Falls / Debbie Kauffman / X
Becky Petersen / X
Valley / Glenna Young / X
Rhonda Komula / X
Washington / Ann Frei / X
37 Treasurers and 11 Chief Deputies were present; a quorum is present to conduct business.
Vicky introduced the February 3, 2014 minutes needing approval. She noted that the minutes had been emailed to all Treasurers prior to the meeting. Vicky requested a motion to suspend the rules for reading the minutes (Currently, the By-Laws requires the Secretary read the previous minutes.) A motion was made to suspend the rules; it was seconded, and carried by vote. Vicky then requested any changes or corrections to the published minutes. She then requested a motion to accept the minutes as emailed. Lori Beck moved; Rose Plympton seconded the motion. The motion carried by vote.
For correspondence, Vicky commented on the many emails that have been passed among the membership for personal tragedies. These were not read. A card from Mary Childers, retired Jerome County Treasurer, was read. She thanked everyone for the many cards and calls during her illness and hospitalization.
Deanna Curry, Association Treasurer and Power County Treasurer, presented the financial condition of the association. Details are available on request. She reported the cash on hand as of July 31, 2014 was $57,487.54. Jenny Fessler moved to accept the report; Tine Wines seconded the motion. The motion carried by vote.
President Pauline thanked D L Evans for hosting the reception on Monday night.
Tine Wines, Association Vice President and Gooding County Treasurer, presented the nominations for the upcoming year. The slate of candidates presented were: Tine Wines, President; Vicky McIntyre, Vice President; Deanna Curry, Secretary; Ellen Masterson, Parliamentarian; Mary Ann Heiser, Historian; and for the elected position of Association Treasurer, Dawn Erlewine. Nominations from the floor were called. Officers automatically move up in the chairs. Only a treasurer is elected each year. Pauline announced that nominations from the floor would occur again in the afternoon, so people should be ready to nominate someone later in the day. Elections will be held later in the day.
COMMITTEE REPORTS
Reports from the assigned committees began with Kristine Lund presenting the Computer Arts Tax program update. She commented that the treasurers using this program have been working hard to get the program to function the way they would like it to. The committee met in February. They have concentrated on creating a list of future improvements of forms. They hope to meet with the vendor at September’s IAC conference, with as many Treasurers as are available. One big issue that they are working on is the tax deed process to make the forms flow through this program.
The memorial fund, headed by Gayle Bachtell, had no report.
Radene Barker then reported on the Research and Analysis committee. She has requested that people contact her when they have a request for information from the membership, instead of sending out a separate information request. The committee’s charter is to gather all input and make a combined report to the membership. Three reports were sent to the membership prior to the conference. They outlined the responses for: “How does your county levy for the maintenance and operation of Solid Waste?”, “Do you handle excess funds or does your clerk?”, and questions about the “tax deed process”. These reports were emailed to all members prior to the conference.
Pauline reminded everyone to update their email lists to include new treasurers. It is the Secretary’s job to keep the email addresses of all members, so please report new treasurers to the Secretary. Also report new Chief Deputies too! This year we will have at least 8 new treasurers and possibly as many Chief Deputies.
Lois Reed had no report for the Urban Renewal committee.
Rose Plympton, chair of the walking committee, reported that 3 people joined her Tuesday morning to walk along the river. She encouraged those interested to be at the front of the hotel at 5:30 a.m. for about a 45 minute walk each day. She encouraged vendors to walk in the morning.
Tax Commission computer report was presented by Janet James from the Idaho State Tax Commission. She mentioned that there was no change to the tax form. There is an issue with Pacific Corp; there is only so many where information can be listed. News about this will be coming. The rewrite of UAD has ‘sort of’ been funded. It provides for 2 FTE, but one must come from internal people. A new person was hired recently. Trudi, Dwight, and Kathy have been meeting to go over everything. They would like to put together a committee to bounce issues off of as the new programming continues. It was decided that all counties using this program will be available as a committee. Those that were listed for the committee are: Lois Reed, Dawn Erlewine, Debbie Kaufmann, Patty Justesen, Amber Sloan, Sara Sexton, and Barb Fry. It is hoped this would keep people better informed. The committee met Monday night and reviewed the demo.
President Pauline notified the membership that there was going to be a change in the venue for Tuesday night’s dinner. It will now be at the hockey arena. Maps were made available for those who wanted to drive, instead of taking the bus. Buses will depart from the front of the hotel at 5:30 p.m.
Vicky McIntyre updated the membership on the website committee. The latest newsletter is not available yet on the website; Vicky has been too busy the last month. The committee did receive an invoice for $40 for assistance in getting the website to show up more on web searches. Vicky contacted the committee and recommended we not continue this service, since the people who typically want to contact us know where to find us. Everyday people aren’t typically searching for the Treasurer’s association. It was felt that this expense was unnecessary. Vicky requested the file from research and analysis to put on the website.
Connie Goins, newsletter chair, reported what she has been doing to provide content to the newsletter. Connie and Vicky work closely together, since the newsletter will now be published online. Connie has asked several Treasurers to submit a county history. If you haven’t been asked yet, it’s coming. You will begin to see these in the newsletter. Connie also has asked all retiring Treasurers to write an article for the newsletter. She has also gathered some interesting facts to pass to Vicky for inclusion in the newsletter. Connie asked for members to shoot her an email with ideas of what they would like to see in the newsletter.
Thompson Reuters (GRM, Aumentum) chair, Tracie Lloyd reported next. The committee met Monday night. They decided that they have 11 counties active and Jerome is coming on next; an Idaho users group needs formed to have a bigger voice at the national level to bring issues needing attention to the company. They also hope to establish either monthly or quarterly webinars and learn from each other. She commented that the State has been a super support to their systems and thanks them for their efforts.
State BOE was reported by Steve Fiscus, Idaho State Tax Commission. He commented that there were NO BOE appeals this year. The deadline was Friday, August 1st. No one had filed by that date. Three companies were looking at it, but nothing had been received by last week. The rules for BOE have changed. The meeting is now more like a legislative hearing; less adversarial. Questions can then be asked of the people giving testimony. A significant task being done at this time of year is the consulting appraisers are doing equalization of the property rolls. One issue they thought was going to come up this year was Union Pacific Railroad. Ratio tolerances are being narrowed, especially on commercial/industrial properties, like railroads. The spread used to be between 90% and 110%. It has now been narrowed to 95% to 105%. This came about because of appraisal errors, like a $40,000 coke machine, etc. Errors like this cause levy miscalculations. In 2007 and 2008, appraisals weren’t within the correct tolerances by ratio study. This will only affect counties with railroads; not all counties have railroads or significant commercial/industrial properties that need equalization. Steve then gave us a brief update on the Commissioners. There are only 3 at the moment. There is no word from the Governor’s office about a 4th Commissioner. The term expires in March, so there may not be an appointment until after the November election or next spring.
Donna Peterson reported on legislative issues, in the absence of Ann Frei. Ann has had both tragedy and joy in her life recently, with one grandchild passing away and another one born five days later. Donna recapped the three bills that went to the legislature in 2014. All three passed. Suggestions for legislation issues this year are: rewrite 31-808 dealing with excess funds. The majority of Treasurers would like to see it go back to the way it was; turning over excess funds to the taxing districts or convince our legislators to allow us a commission for selling a property (like a real estate agent). Debbie Kaufmann commented on the lawsuit Twin Falls County had from Found Extra Money. The county lost the lawsuit; the judge said they should have disbursed funds on the contract that the property owner had with Found Extra Money. Glenna Young commented that many counties don’t have the means to disburse the money to the correct person. Tracie Lloyd has a similar problem with a deceased property owner; siblings are arguing over the funds. Others commented about other circumstances. Tine Wines commented that perhaps we would want to look at becoming a ‘tax lien certificate sale’ state. NACCTFO President, Sandy shared her states’ process. The big question was which organization should carry this forward for legislation. It was decided that the Treasurers should work on this. Mark Hanson suggested turning the excess funds over to civil court and let them tell us who deserves the funds. Tom Malzahn suggested a change in this bill might move forward, since Phil Hart and Lawrence Denney are no longer in the legislature. He also suggested we talk with the Clerks and Prosecutors about jointly sponsoring this bill change. Since legislative changes need to be to IAC before September 1st, the committee will work on this during the next year and hopefully have something to bring forward next conference. Last year there was $1.1 million collected in excess funds. Seth Grigg commented, when asked, about his thoughts of turning over excess funds to the State. He suggested speaking with Mike Moyle. Discussion about the many public records requests from the new industry that has surfaced as a result of excess proceeds is spiraling out of control. We all agreed this is time consuming and difficult to always comply with. Often times checks issued on excess funds aren’t cashed, causing even further issues.
The next bill for consideration was 63-1108, suggested by Janice Lawes; do treasurers have to purchase mobile homes at a Sheriff sale? The majority would like to have further ISTC rule clarification on this to make it clearer. Discussion was suspended to allow the official welcome from the city Mayor and County Commissioner.
Idaho Falls Mayor, Rebecca Casper, followed by Roger Christensen, Chairman Bonneville County Commissioner, welcomed us to Idaho Falls and highlighted some of the things to do while in the area. Ms. Casper highlighted the greenbelt and several evening events that were taking place during our conference; encouraging us to come out and see their fine city.