Module 5: Distribution, Settlement and Accounting

Who Moves the Money, and When

Collecting a tax and handing it out are two jobs, and two offices share them. As ex officio tax collector you "remit any property tax revenues collected to the county auditor showing distribution to the proper accounts or funds." You receive no money into the treasury unless the auditor's certificate documents it.¹ After that the settlement cycle takes over.

On the first Monday of each month, except the second Monday of January and July, you settle with the auditor for all money collected, "together with any late charges and interest collected." You do it under oath, with a statement showing the amounts for state and county purposes and for "every city, school district, road district or other taxing district or authority."² The second Monday belongs to the auditor, who sends the clerk of each taxing district that has its own treasurer a settlement of everything paid in since the last one. In January and July the auditor may wait until the 25th. State money goes to the appropriate agency on that second Monday with a sworn statement.³ House Bill 594 (2026) amended §§ 63-903, 63-1201 and 63-1202, effective July 1, 2026, so the settlement sections now name late charges and interest next to the tax. It followed a Supreme Court decision you will meet in the next section.⁴

The December to January stretch

Most of your money arrives in a few weeks. These are the 2026 tax year dates, worked out from the statutes.

A fire district that budgets on money paid on December 18 may not see it until January 25. Holidays tangle the dates too: December 20 falls on a Sunday this year. Idaho Code § 73-110 lets an act set for a holiday be done the next business day.⁵ Ask your prosecutor whether it covers your settlement dates.

Two district statutes use faster words than the monthly cycle. The fire protection district law says tax receipts "shall immediately be paid over by the county treasurer," and the highway district law says the collector pays over "as soon as they are collected."⁶ I found no Idaho decision that reconciles those words with the monthly dates.⁷ Pick a reading with your auditor and your prosecutor, put it in writing, and stick with it.

Apportionment, Late Charges, Interest and What the County May Keep

"Apportioned as provided by law" is the phrase § 63-1201 uses, and the content sits in other sections. County levies go to named county funds: the current expense fund, the justice fund where one exists, and the parks and recreation fund.⁸ One rule is easy to miss. Taxes levied for the current expense, road and bridge funds that are collected on or after January 1 of the following year go to the county warrant redemption fund "except as otherwise provided by law." Second-half payments arrive after January 1, so ask your auditor how the system treats that money.

Late charges and interest

A late charge is two percent of the delinquency. Interest runs at one percent a month from January 1 following the year the lien attached, and it is not charged on collection costs.⁹ Section 63-903(6) says the auditor "shall apportion the late charges and interest among the taxing districts, in the same proportion as each taxing district receives in property taxes from the total amount collected in property taxes for the entire county."¹⁰

That sentence came out of a lawsuit. In July 2022 the Kootenai County treasurer told the county's taxing districts that the county would keep all collected late charges and interest to cover its collection costs. Highway districts and two cities sued and won. On July 9, 2025 the Idaho Supreme Court affirmed in East Side Highway District v. Kootenai County, 572 P.3d 153. The Court held that §§ 63-1007(1) and 63-1015 unambiguously require late charges and interest to be apportioned to the taxing districts, and it upheld the districts' attorney fees under § 12-117(4).¹¹

Two points carry over to your desk. The Court described county officials as agents when they collect taxes owed to other districts.¹² An agent does not keep the principal's receipts because the agent's own budget is tight. And the Court said counties may recover their collection costs. If those costs do not make the county whole, the county should take that to the Legislature.

The fees the statutes give the county

The county's recovery sits in the delinquency chapter. Section 63-1002 lists the costs: certified mailings, title searches, advertising "and all other expenses for the processing and collection of the delinquency." A partial payment is spread across costs, interest, late charges and tax "in the proportion each bears to the total amount due." The commissioners set warrant of distraint fees by ordinance under § 63-1013(2).¹³ A county may also charge an entity for helping it with State Controller registry filings, and take the money from that entity's distributions.¹⁴ If someone asks you to take something off the top that is not in a section like those, ask for the section number before you act.

Urban Renewal: Base, Increment and Your Part

Cities and urban renewal agencies adopt the plans under Title 50, chapter 29. The money passes through your office.

A revenue allocation area has a base and an increment. The base assessment roll is the equalized roll on January 1 of the year the city adopts or modifies the plan, adjusted by the statute's rules. The increment is the total of the positive differences between each parcel's current value and its base value. The base roll of an area is capped at ten percent of the current assessed value of all taxable property in the municipality.¹⁵

The mechanics sit in § 50-2908. The commissioners compute each affected taxing district's levy rate on the base value of the area, not the current value. That rate is applied to the current value of everything in the district, including the area. The district gets all taxes from property outside the area, plus what its rate yields on the base value inside. "To the urban renewal agency shall be allocated the balance, if any," and it "shall be paid to the agency by the treasurer of the county."¹⁶

An illustration, with invented numbers. A district's levy rate comes out to $5.00 per $1,000. The area's base value is $10 million and its current value is $14 million. The district keeps $50,000 from the area ($10 million times the rate). The tax on the full $14 million is $70,000, so the agency gets the $20,000 balance.¹⁷

Where the district's rate uses current value

The base rule has exceptions in § 50-2908(1), including levies for refunds and credits, voter-approved general obligation bonds and plant facility reserve levies passed after December 31, 2007, certain school supplemental and emergency levies, and judicially confirmed obligations. Fire protection and ambulance districts that are exempt from, or have withdrawn from, a revenue allocation provision are on the list too.¹⁸ For areas formed or expanded on or after July 1, 2020, all taxes levied by any highway district go to the highway district, unless the city maintains the roads or the district and agency agree otherwise.

Replacement money and the agency

The personal property exemption of up to $250,000 per taxpayer creates a second flow. The State Tax Commission reimburses the county treasurer, half by December 20 and half by June 20. You pay each district in proportion to its certified loss, and for the part tied to a revenue allocation area you pay the agency directly.¹⁹ Have the auditor's worksheet in hand before the money lands.

When the agency does not file

Agencies must file with the Tax Commission's registry on or before December 1. If one does not, the Tax Commission notifies the commissioners and the city by September 1. The commissioners must publish notice and assess the cost to the agency, and revenue above the prior year's is redistributed to the overlapping districts.²⁰ The statute does not say who runs the numbers or cuts the check, so if a notice arrives, get the auditor's computation and the board's direction in writing first.

Cities, Schools, Special Districts and Highway Districts

The auditor's second Monday transmittal goes to the clerk of each district that has its own treasurer.²¹ School, fire and highway districts have statutes that name their own treasurers. You do not run their books. You send them their money, and your settlement statement has to show how much each is owed.

School districts run a July 1 fiscal year, sign their own warrants through a district treasurer, and publish their own annual statements.²² Highway districts have the third-Monday-in-July final settlement. Cities and the remaining special districts come under the general language of §§ 63-1201 and 63-1202. Keep a one-page chart for every district in your county, with its treasurer's name, bank, remittance method and any statute-specific date. It will be the first thing an auditor asks for.

Who earns the interest on a district's money while it sits in your account between collection and settlement? I found no section that answers that. Section 57-127 sends interest on county investments "unless otherwise required by law" to the general fund of the depositing unit. Whether that logic reaches another district's tax receipts is not settled in anything I read. After East Side, a quiet decision to treat that interest as county revenue is the kind a district may challenge.²³ Get a written answer before you book it either way.

Redemption, Tax Deed Sales and Delinquent Interest

Delinquency has the "force and effect of a sale to the county tax collector as grantee in trust for the county," and any payment on a delinquency is "in effect, a partial redemption of the property from tax sale" (§ 63-1001). That is why redemption money gets the same treatment as a tax payment. Section 63-1015 sends redemption proceeds into the county treasury on the auditor's certificate "to be apportioned among the several state and county funds and taxing districts, as provided for the apportionment of property taxes." East Side turned on that section.²⁴

Sale proceeds and the surplus

The commissioners must hold an auction no later than fourteen months after the tax deed issues. Under § 31-808(2)(b), the proceeds, "after payment of all delinquent taxes, late charges, interest and costs, including the cost for maintaining the property, shall be apportioned by the board of county commissioners to parties in interest." Within 30 days of the sale the board notifies the parties of the excess. They have 60 days to claim. The board pays in lien priority within 60 days after the claim deadline, or, with the State Treasurer's consent, transfers the funds to the State Treasurer, who handles them under the unclaimed property chapter.²⁵²⁶

The board apportions the surplus. You hold the cash and pay it. Treat the board's written apportionment and an auditor's warrant as your authority, since § 31-2101(6) says you disburse county moneys only that way. The tax portion is a different matter. Section 63-1015 speaks to redemptions, and § 31-808 says "after payment" without saying how the tax part reaches each district. My reading is that you post it to the delinquency entry the way you would a redemption and let the auditor's settlement apportion it, but I found no Idaho decision on the point. Ask your prosecutor and keep the answer.

In Tyler v. Hennepin County, the U.S. Supreme Court held in 2023 that an owner plausibly alleged a Takings Clause violation when a county sold a home for about $40,000 over a debt of about $15,000 and kept the difference.²⁷ Idaho's statute sends the surplus back.

Settlements, Reports and Your Books

Section 31-2112 requires you to settle all accounts "relating to the collection, care and disbursement of public revenue, of whatsoever nature and kind" with the auditor on the first Monday of each month. You make a sworn statement of money received, the sources, the payments and to whom, and what remains on hand. You deposit redeemed warrants and take the auditor's receipt. And once a year you make a full settlement with the auditor "on the first Tuesday after the first Monday of October, in the presence of the commissioners, who have a supervisory control thereof."²⁸ That is October 6, 2026, and October 5, 2027.

The overlap with § 63-1201 is real. The safest practice is to settle tax receipts on the § 63-1201 days and everything else on the § 31-2112 days, and to ask your auditor to agree in writing.

Every regular meeting of the board needs a "detailed report ... of all moneys received by him and the disbursement thereof, and of all debts due to and from county, and of all other proceedings in his office." The section is captioned "quarterly report." The text says every regular meeting, and the text controls. If you neglect or refuse to settle or report, you forfeit $500 for each neglect.²⁹ The depository law adds a written cash report to the governing board by the last business day of each month.³⁰

Your books and who may look at them

You keep an account of every receipt and disbursement showing the amount, when, from whom and on what account, with separate accounts for each fund and one general cash account. When the State Controller gives notice, your books must conform to the uniform accounting manual. You may not enter current-year money on the old year's account "until after his annual settlement for the past year has been made."³¹ The commissioners and the auditor may examine your books and count the cash whenever they choose.³²

Section 31-2112 gives the commissioners "supervisory control" of the annual settlement. Nothing in it makes them your supervisor for the rest of the year. A 1986 Attorney General opinion states the rule: county offices are independent of one another.³³ The board can examine and count. You still run the office.

Retention

County records fall into three classes under § 31-871. Permanent records, kept at least ten years, include the general ledger, cash books, the warrant and bond registers, and budget records. Semipermanent records, kept at least five years, include claims, canceled checks, warrants, vouchers, duplicate receipts and financial records. Temporary records, kept at least two years, include cash receipts subject to audit. You may destroy records only by a board resolution that lists them in detail, on the prosecutor's advice.³⁴ For duplicate property tax receipts, the tax collector statute separately lets you destroy them as they reach ten years old.³⁵ The liability, ethics and records module takes up public records requests and personal liability.

Budget Amendments, Fund Balances and Money You Hold for Others

The county fiscal year begins October 1. The auditor is the budget officer, notifies each elected officer in writing on or before the first Monday in May, and you file an itemized estimate by the third Monday in May. An official who misses the deadline pays a penalty of $10 to $50 deducted from the next salary warrant, and the budget officer may write that office's budget.³⁶ Once the budget is final, each official is "limited in making expenditures or the incurring of liabilities" to the appropriations. An official who spends over an appropriation becomes personally liable, and so does the official's bond.³⁷

The board may change the numbers during the year. It may adjust for "unscheduled revenue, grants, or donations" with no increase in anticipated property taxes. It may make a general reserve appropriation of up to five percent of the current expense budget, and spend from it only by unanimous vote. And on a unanimous resolution stating the facts of an emergency, it may spend from funds on hand. If the fund is short, the warrants are registered, and you identify ways to redeem them, including short-term borrowing from other county funds at market interest.³⁸

Moving money between funds is not on the list. The board "must not transfer any money from one fund to another" except where the law expressly permits, and then only by a resolution entered in its records with certified copies filed with the auditor and you. A phone call is not a resolution.³⁹

Fund balances

Counties may carry fund balances forward to operate on a cash basis. Carrying money forward for a specific department takes a board resolution.⁴⁰ Appropriations lapse at the end of the fiscal year, though the accounts may stay open until the first Monday in November (November 2, 2026) to pay claims incurred before year end. After that they are void.⁴¹

Trust and agency money

Not everything in your accounts is the county's.

• Other districts' tax receipts between collection and settlement, and state money payable on the second Monday.
• Interim payment account deposits. Taxpayers may pay at least $25 at a time toward future taxes. You issue numbered receipts, pay no interest, and post the money to the roll when the tax becomes due.⁴²
• Tax deed surplus awaiting claims.
• Money the prosecuting attorney collects for the county or state and pays over to you.⁴³
• Public administrator estates, where a sworn return to the judge is due every six months.⁴⁴

The depository law treats money in the hands of the tax collector and the public administrator as public money.⁴⁵ Give each category its own account in your books.

The Annual Audit, State Controller Reporting and What Auditors Ask

Your county's financial statements are audited by an independent auditor under written contract, in accordance with generally accepted governmental auditing standards. Idaho Code § 67-450B sets the minimums. An entity whose annual expenditures from all sources exceed $300,000 must have a full audit every fiscal year. Between $200,000 and $300,000 it may audit annually or biennially, and below $200,000 there is no minimum. A single audit applies under the federal rule once an entity spends $1,000,000 or more in federal awards. The entity files one copy with the Legislative Services Office within nine months after the audit period ends.⁴⁶ For a county on an October 1 fiscal year, that is June 30.

The State Controller supplies the second layer. The Controller keeps a uniform accounting manual for local governments and runs a central registry and reporting portal. The county clerk tells local entities about the registry requirements and sends the Controller a list of every taxing district in the county.⁴⁷ Each entity submits its adopted budget, an unaudited budget-to-actual comparison, the date of its last independent audit and its debt information.

The date is a trap. The statute I read says "on or before December 1 of each year." The Controller's own materials for the 2026 reporting year say registry submissions are due by July 1.⁴⁸ The Idaho Association of Counties' 2025 training slides still say December 1. Follow the Controller's current written instruction and ask the clerk which date your county is using.

Failure to file has teeth, and some of it lands on you. After a thirty-day notice, the Controller may impose a late fee of up to $500 a day. The commissioners must publish notice at the entity's expense, which can come out of distributions the county makes to that entity. A noncompliant entity loses certain budget increases, and the Tax Commission withholds its quarterly sales tax distribution. Your county is itself a local governmental entity under the statute, so all of this applies to it too. Deduct from a district's distribution only on the commissioners' written direction.⁴⁹

What auditors will ask your office for

• Monthly reconciliations of every bank, pool and investment account to your books, fund by fund.
• Sworn settlement statements that tie to the auditor's records.
• The apportionment worksheet behind each district's payment, including late charges and interest after East Side.
• The urban renewal base and increment schedule and your payments to each agency.
• A schedule of money held for others.
• Board resolutions for transfers, record destruction and carryover of balances.

Related Organizations and Where to Get Help

Each address below returned a live page when I checked it on October 13, 2026.

• Idaho Association of County Treasurers (IACT), an affiliate of the Idaho Association of Counties. Ask it how neighboring treasurers handle a settlement question.
• Idaho Association of Counties (IAC), which publishes a training deck on uniform financial reporting and transparency. It filed a brief for the county in East Side, so read its views on distribution with the statute open.
• Idaho State Tax Commission, property tax, with guides for counties, IDAPA 35.01.03 (including the urban renewal rule at 804), the urban renewal agency registry, and replacement payments.
• Idaho State Controller and its Local Government Registry page, which carries the current submission deadline, with Transparent Idaho, where the data lands.
• Legislative Audits, Local Government Audits and Registry, where your audit reaches the Legislature.
• Idaho Division of Financial Management. I found no statute that makes a county treasurer report to it, so this is a place to understand state revenue forecasts, not a compliance office for you.
• Idaho State Treasurer, which runs the Local Government Investment Pool and receives unclaimed property, including tax deed surplus transferred with the Treasurer's consent.
• Idaho Attorney General, who publishes opinions and may investigate allegations of state criminal law violations against elected county officers (§ 31-2002).
• Idaho Counties Risk Management Program (ICRMP), for coverage questions.
• Your county's prosecuting attorney, who advises county officers when asked (§ 31-2604(3)).

I found no Attorney General opinion on settlement or distribution that I could verify.

Practice Points for the Officeholder

Deadlines you carry

• First Monday of each month: sworn settlement with the auditor (§§ 31-2112, 63-1201).
• Last business day of each month: written cash report to the board (§ 57-135).
• Every regular board meeting: detailed report. $500 per neglect (§§ 31-2113, 31-2114).
• October 6, 2026: annual settlement before the commissioners (§ 31-2112).
• Third Monday in May: your budget estimate (§ 31-1602).
• November 2, 2026: old-year appropriation accounts close (§ 31-1609).
• Third Monday in July: final settlement with each highway district treasurer (§ 40-805).
• Audit to the Legislative Services Office within nine months. Registry date: follow the Controller's notice (§§ 67-450B, 67-1076).

Month-end close

1. Reconcile each bank, pool and investment account to the books, fund by fund.
2. Confirm every deposit has the auditor's certificate and a numbered receipt (§§ 31-2103, 31-2104).
3. Spread delinquency payments in proportion across costs, interest, late charges and tax (§ 63-1002).
4. Check the apportionment run for late charges and interest against § 63-903(6), and keep the worksheet.
5. Sign the sworn settlement statement and tie it to the auditor's figures.
6. Confirm the second Monday transmittal reached each district clerk and the state agencies.
7. Confirm each urban renewal payment against the auditor's base and increment computation.
8. Send the cash report and prepare the board report.
9. Review every held-for-others account and note anything aging.
10. Have a second person review the close, and log exceptions.

Year-end close (October 1 through early November)

1. Cut off September 30 receipts and post them to the closing year.
2. Post no October money to the old year (§ 31-2101(5)).
3. Prepare the annual settlement statement, the five-year uncollected report and the redeemed warrants for deposit.
4. Request any carryover or transfer resolutions you need (§§ 31-1605A, 31-1508, 63-806(2)).
5. Give the auditor your confirmations and your schedule of funds held for others.
6. List records past retention and ask the board for a destruction resolution (§ 31-871).

Whom to call

• Your prosecuting attorney, for any settlement, apportionment, interest or surplus question. Ask for the answer in writing.
• IACT, for how other counties handle it. The State Tax Commission, for urban renewal and replacement money. The State Controller, for registry dates and the uniform manual.

Sources & Further Reading

Primary Sources

• Idaho Code Title 63, chapters 8, 9, 10 and 12 (§§ 63-805, 63-806, 63-811, 63-902, 63-903, 63-906, 63-1001, 63-1002, 63-1007, 63-1013, 63-1015, 63-1201, 63-1202); § 63-201(12); § 63-602KK(4)
• Idaho Code Title 50, chapter 29 (§§ 50-2903, 50-2906, 50-2907, 50-2908, 50-2913, 50-2914)
• Idaho Code Title 31, chapters 8, 14, 15, 16 and 21 (§§ 31-808, 31-871, 31-1424, 31-1426, 31-1508, 31-1601 to 31-1611, 31-2101, 31-2112 to 31-2114, 31-2122, 31-2123, 31-2126, 31-2604)
• Idaho Code §§ 33-701, 33-702, 40-805, 40-1306, 14-112, 14-113, 57-105, 57-127, 57-135, 73-108, 73-110; Title 14, chapter 5
• Idaho Code §§ 67-448, 67-450B, 67-1075 and 67-1076; 2 CFR 200.501
• House Bill 594 (2026)
• East Side Highway District v. Kootenai County, 572 P.3d 153 (Idaho 2025)
• Tyler v. Hennepin County, No. 22-166 (U.S. May 25, 2023)

Agency Guidance

• Idaho Attorney General Opinion No. 86-10 (1986)
• Idaho State Tax Commission county guides and IDAPA 35.01.03
• Idaho State Controller and the Local Government Registry
• Legislative Audits, local government audits
• Idaho Association of County Treasurers and the IAC uniform financial reporting slides (2025)

Related Training Modules

• Treasurers, Module 1: The Office
• Treasurers, Module 2: Tax Collection
• Treasurers, Module 3: Delinquency
• Treasurers, Module 4: Custody and Investments
• Treasurers, Module 6: Public Administrator
• Treasurers, Module 7: Working Relationships
• Treasurers, Module 8: Case Law
• Treasurers, Module 9: Liability, Ethics and Records
• Treasurers, Module 10: Resources
• Issues course: Idaho Property Taxes
• Issues course: Urban Renewal and TIF
• Issues course: Urban Renewal and Economic Development
• Issues course: Local Government

Footnotes

1. Idaho Code § 63-812 (tax collector remits to the county auditor "showing distribution to the proper accounts or funds"); Idaho Code § 31-2103 (no money received into the treasury "unless documented by the certificate of the auditor," with electronic transfers followed by documentation excepted); Idaho Code § 31-2104 (receipt to the payer, deposited with the auditor).
2. Idaho Code § 63-1201 (monthly settlement; as amended by 2026 Session Laws ch. 20, sec. 2, effective July 1, 2026). The section heading says "monthly and final settlement." The text contains no separate final-settlement rule.
3. Idaho Code § 63-1202 (auditor transmits on the second Monday, with July and January money due no later than the 25th; state money goes to "the appropriate agency" on the same Monday under a sworn statement; as amended by 2026 Session Laws ch. 20, sec. 3).
4. H.B. 594 (2026) amended §§ 63-903, 63-1201 and 63-1202 and took effect July 1, 2026 under an emergency clause. Its Statement of Purpose says the bill "codifies the 2025 Supreme Court decision that proportional appropriation for fees and interest collections on delinquent property tax collections must go to each taxing district." The Statement of Purpose is a proponent's attachment and, as it says itself, is not an expression of legislative intent (Joint Rule 18). The February 19, 2026 Senate Local Government and Taxation Committee minutes record the sponsor and the president of the Idaho Association of County Treasurers speaking in favor.
5. Idaho Code § 73-108 (holidays include every Sunday and the first Monday in September) and § 73-110 (an act appointed by law for a day that falls on a holiday "may be performed upon the next business day"). Whether § 73-110 governs a statutory settlement date is a question for your prosecuting attorney. The text reads that way, and I found no Idaho decision on the point. December 20, 2026 and June 20, 2027 are both Sundays, and the first Monday of September 2027 is September 6, by calendar computation.
6. Idaho Code § 40-805 (tax collector pays district tax money to the highway district treasurer "as soon as they are collected," and "on or before the third Monday in July in each year" makes final settlement, including "the district's proportionate amount of delinquent district taxes, interest and costs on all tax sales and redemptions"). The third Monday in July 2027 is July 19, by calendar computation.
7. Idaho Code § 31-1426 (fire protection district: tax receipts "shall immediately be paid over by the county treasurer to the treasurer of the fire protection district") and § 31-1424 (separate list, separate receipt, separate accounts).
8. Idaho Code § 63-805 (county levies "collected and paid into the county treasury and apportioned" to the current expense fund, the justice fund if one exists, and the parks and recreation fund); § 63-806(2) (taxes levied for the current expense, road and bridge funds and collected on or after the first day of January in the succeeding year, and taxes no longer needed for their purpose, go to the warrant redemption fund "except as otherwise provided by law").
9. Idaho Code § 63-201(12) (a late charge is "two percent (2%) of the delinquency"); Idaho Code § 63-1001 (interest of one percent per month "calculated from January 1 following the year the tax lien attached," not charged on collection costs).
10. Idaho Code § 63-903 (due dates of December 20 and June 20; subsection (6) directs the auditor to apportion late charges and interest "in the same proportion as each taxing district receives in property taxes from the total amount collected in property taxes for the entire county"; last amended 2026 Session Laws ch. 20, sec. 1, and before that 2025 ch. 202).
11. East Side Highway District v. Kootenai County, 572 P.3d 153 (Idaho 2025) (Docket No. 51332, opinion filed July 9, 2025, Bevan, C.J., affirming the First Judicial District, Kootenai County, Christensen, D.J.). The caption, docket number, date, reporter citation, facts and quoted language were read from a reproduction of the opinion text. The holdings on §§ 63-1007(1), 63-1015 and 40-805, collection costs and attorney fees were read from an extraction of the opinion posted on CourtListener, and the outcome is confirmed by the Justia summary. The Idaho courts' own PDF address did not resolve when I tried it, so read the full opinion before you rely on a fine point. Idaho Code § 12-117(4) awards reasonable attorney fees to the prevailing party in a civil proceeding between governmental entities.
12. The Court quoted Hamilton v. Village of McCall, 90 Idaho 253, 260, 409 P.2d 393, 397 (1965), for the statement that county officials "act as agents" when they collect property taxes owed to other taxing districts. I read that citation as it appears in East Side and did not pull Hamilton itself.
13. Idaho Code § 63-1002 (costs include "certified mailings, title searches, advertising and all other expenses for the processing and collection of the delinquency"; payments are applied to costs, collection costs, special assessments, charges, fees, interest, late charges and property tax "in the proportion each bears to the total amount due"); § 63-1013(2) (fees for warrants of distraint "shall be set by ordinance by the board of county commissioners").
14. Idaho Code § 67-1076(5), (7)(b) and (7)(e)(ii) (reasonable fees for helping an entity with registry reporting, and the cost of a noncompliance notice, may be deducted from distributions of taxes, fees or assessments the county collects for the entity; a noncompliance fee of up to $5,000 goes to the county current expense fund); Idaho Code § 50-2913(3)(b) and (3)(e)(ii) (the same for an urban renewal agency); § 63-902(11) (a charge other than property taxes goes on a tax notice only with commissioner approval and only if the entity has statutory lien and certification authority).
15. Idaho Code § 50-2903 (subsection (4), "base assessment roll"; (10), "increment value"; (16), "revenue allocation area," whose base roll "shall not exceed at any time ten percent (10%) of the current assessed valuation of all taxable property within the municipality"); IDAPA 35.01.03.804 (version dated 7-1-24, defining base and increment value parcel by parcel and stating that revenue allocation areas are not taxing districts).
16. Idaho Code § 50-2908 (subsection (1): rate computed on base assessment roll value, with listed exceptions; subsection (2): the rate is applied to current value, the district receives taxes outside the area plus the rate times base value inside, and "the urban renewal agency shall be allocated the balance"; subsection (3): paid to the agency "by the treasurer of the county"; last amended 2025 ch. 300, sec. 7). The worked example in the text is mine and ignores the exceptions in subsection (1).
17. Idaho Code § 63-811(4) (for computing taxable value, the value above the base assessment roll in a revenue allocation area is left out "except as provided in section 50-2908(1)"); Idaho Code § 50-2907 (the municipal clerk sends the ordinance, legal description and map to the county auditor and assessor, the affected districts and the State Tax Commission).
18. Idaho Code § 50-2906(4) and (5) (fire protection and ambulance districts may be exempt from, or withdraw from, a revenue allocation financing provision). I read those subsections only through the cross-reference in § 50-2908(1)(g) and did not analyze the conditions.
19. Idaho Code § 63-602KK(4) (the Tax Commission reimburses the county treasurer, "one-half (1/2) ... no later than December 20 of each year, and the second one-half (1/2) ... by no later than June 20"; the treasurer pays each district in proportion to the certified reduction; the portion tied to a revenue allocation area "shall be paid directly by the county treasurer to such public body or agency"). The Tax Commission's May 17, 2021 memo on H.B. 389 to county clerks, treasurers and assessors describes the first year of the $250,000 exemption: replacement money paid to counties in December 2022, with pro rata shares paid to districts beginning in January 2023.
20. Idaho Code § 50-2913(2) and (3) (agencies report to the Tax Commission registry on or before December 1; the Tax Commission notifies the commissioners and city by September 1 of noncompliance; revenue above the prior year's amount is redistributed to the overlapping taxing districts; the commissioners may assess a fee of up to $5,000). Idaho Code § 50-2914 (termination ordinance recorded and sent to the county clerk, affected districts and Tax Commission within ten business days; added 2025 ch. 300).
21. Section 63-1202(1) is written for "a taxing district having a treasurer whose duty it is to receive, keep and disburse all moneys belonging to it." I did not locate a general statute for how a district without its own treasurer is paid. Check the statute that created the district and ask your prosecuting attorney. See also § 40-1306 (highway district commissioners appoint a treasurer, who files a bond of at least $50,000).
22. Idaho Code § 33-701 (school district fiscal year begins July 1; warrants signed by "the treasurer of the district"; annual statement and audit under § 67-450B; budget adjustments by sixty percent vote of the board); § 33-702 (an elementary district with fewer than six teachers presents orders for warrants to the county auditor).
23. Idaho Code § 57-127 (investment of idle funds in investments permitted by § 67-1210; interest "unless otherwise required by law, shall be paid into the general fund of the depositing unit"). The custody and investments module covers depositories and investments. I found no section that says who keeps earnings on one district's tax money held in the county treasury between collection and settlement.
24. Idaho Code § 63-1015 (redemption proceeds paid into the county treasury "upon the certificate of the county auditor, to be apportioned among the several state and county funds and taxing districts, as provided for the apportionment of property taxes"); Idaho Code § 63-1007 (the redemptioner pays the delinquency "including the late charges, accrued interest, and costs, including, but not limited to, title search and other professional fees"; after the tax deed issues, redemption runs until a contract of sale or county deed, and the right expires fourteen months after issuance of the deed). Delinquency practice is the subject of the delinquency module.
25. Idaho Code § 31-808 (subsection (1): auction no later than fourteen months from issuance of the tax deed, minimum bid; subsection (2)(b) through (d): apportionment of proceeds by the board, notice within 30 days, claims within 60 days, payment within 60 days after claims are due, transfer to the State Treasurer with consent; last amended 2024 ch. 22). § 63-201(17) defines "party in interest" as a person holding "a recorded purchase contract, mortgage, deed of trust, security interest, lien or lease upon the property."
26. Idaho Code § 31-808(2)(d) (the State Treasurer "shall keep and distribute the proceeds in accordance with chapter 5, title 14, Idaho Code"); Title 14, chapter 5 (Revised Unclaimed Property Act); Idaho Code § 14-113 (estate property with no heirs treated as abandoned property under that chapter).
27. Tyler v. Hennepin County, No. 22-166 (U.S. May 25, 2023) (opinion). A county sold a home for about $40,000 to collect about $15,000 in taxes and kept the roughly $25,000 difference; the Court held that the owner plausibly alleged a Takings Clause violation. The U.S. Reports page citation is omitted because I could not confirm it. I found no Idaho appellate decision applying Tyler to § 31-808.
28. Idaho Code § 31-2112 (monthly settlement "on the first Monday of each month"; sworn statement; five-year reporting of uncollected sums; annual settlement "on the first Tuesday after the first Monday of October, in the presence of the commissioners, who have a supervisory control thereof"). October 6, 2026 and October 5, 2027 are calendar computations from that text.
29. Idaho Code § 31-2113 (the caption reads "quarterly report," but the text requires a "detailed report at every regular meeting of the board of commissioners"); Idaho Code § 31-2114 ($500 forfeit "for every such neglect or refusal"; the commissioners "must institute suits for the recovery thereof").
30. Idaho Code § 57-135 (written report to the governing board "no later than the last business day of each month," on cash in the treasury and where it is deposited or invested; a willfully false statement can support suspension or removal). The section applies "if not otherwise required by statute to report," so whether § 31-2113 displaces it for a county treasurer is a question for your prosecuting attorney.
31. Idaho Code § 31-2101 (receive and safely keep all money; keep books showing amount, time, from whom and on what account; separate accounts per fund and "one general or cash account"; conform to the State Controller's uniform accounting manual "upon notification"; "enter no moneys received for the current year on his account with the county for the past fiscal year until after his annual settlement"; disburse "only on county warrants issued by the county auditor, based on orders of the board of commissioners or as otherwise provided by law").
32. Idaho Code § 31-2122 (books, accounts and vouchers "at all times subject to the inspection and examination of the board of commissioners and grand jury") and Idaho Code § 31-2123 (the treasurer "must permit the county commissioners and auditor to examine his books and count the money in the treasury whenever they may wish").
33. Idaho Attorney General Opinion No. 86-10 (1986) (to the Ada County assessor): "the various county offices should be viewed as being independent of one another," and "the commissioners may not assume the duties of other offices," citing Idaho Supreme Court decisions. The opinion is about a countywide personnel system and does not mention settlement or distribution. I read it from a scan with imperfect text recognition and did not pull the cited cases.
34. Idaho Code § 31-871 (classification and retention of county records; destruction "only by resolution of the board of county commissioners after regular audit and upon the advice of the prosecuting attorney"; subsection (2)(h) makes the section control "unless otherwise provided in Idaho Code"); Idaho Code § 31-871A (photographic and digital retention, 200 dots per inch minimum for digital, duplicate copies with one in a fire-resistant vault or off-site, paper may be disposed of once retained in a nonpaper medium).
35. Idaho Code § 63-902(7) (the tax collector "is authorized to destroy all duplicate property tax receipts and microfilm of tax receipts on file in his office as they reach ten (10) years old," and may destroy receipts if the information has been replicated in other storage media).
36. Idaho Code § 31-1601 (fiscal year begins October 1); Idaho Code § 31-1602 (the auditor is the budget officer; written notice on or before the first Monday in May; estimates by the third Monday in May; $10 to $50 penalty deducted from the next salary warrant; budget officer may prepare an estimate for an office that fails to file).
37. Idaho Code § 31-1606(1) (expenditures limited to appropriations; no salary increase after final budget without a recorded resolution); Idaho Code § 31-1607 (an official who exceeds an appropriation is liable "personally and upon his official bond"; the auditor issues no warrant; the prosecuting attorney must bring the action); Idaho Code § 31-1611 (the budget officer gives the board quarterly statements on or before the last day of January, April, July and October).
38. Idaho Code § 31-1605 (adjustment for "unscheduled revenue, grants, or donations" with no increase in anticipated property taxes; general reserve appropriation of up to five percent of the current expense budget, spent by unanimous vote for an unforeseen contingency); Idaho Code § 31-1608 (emergency expenditures on a unanimous resolution; registered warrants if funds are short); Idaho Code § 31-1507 and § 31-2126 (the treasurer identifies ways to redeem registered warrants, including short-term borrowing from other county funds at market interest; the board selects the method by resolution); § 31-1606(1) (road and bridge transfers by resolution).
39. Idaho Code § 31-1508 (no transfer between funds "except in cases expressly provided and permitted by law"; transfers by resolution entered in the records, with certified copies filed with the auditor and the treasurer).
40. Idaho Code § 31-1605A (fund balances may be accumulated and carried over "to achieve or maintain county operations on a cash basis"; "fund balance" defined; carryover for specific departments by resolution).
41. Idaho Code § 31-1609 (appropriations lapse at fiscal year end; accounts may remain open until the first Monday in November for claims incurred before year end; balances for incomplete improvements carry forward); § 63-806(2) (money in the county treasury on October 1 to the credit of the current expense, road, bridge or other fund that is no longer needed is transferred to the warrant redemption fund by resolution). November 2, 2026 is the first Monday in November.
42. Idaho Code § 63-906 (interim payment account: payments of at least $25 or the balance owing; numbered receipt; no interest paid; the collector is "accountable for all moneys received" and liable on the official bond).
43. Idaho Code § 31-2604(5) (the prosecuting attorney settles with the auditor on the first Monday of each month and pays over money collected for the county or state to the county treasurer, taking a receipt); Idaho Code § 31-2115 (the treasurer must sue a prosecuting attorney who fails to account for and pay over money). Subsection (3) of § 31-2604 is the prosecuting attorney's duty to advise county officers on request.
44. Idaho Code § 14-112 (the public administrator returns to the judge, under oath and every six months, the estates that have come into his hands, the money received, what was done with it, fees and expenses, and the balance); Idaho Code § 14-105 (inventory and administration of estates). The public administrator module covers this work.
45. Idaho Code § 57-105 ("public moneys" includes "all moneys coming into the hands of any treasurer of a depositing unit, and in the case of any county shall also include all moneys coming into the hands of its tax collector or public administrator"). The custody and investments module covers the depository law.
46. Idaho Code § 67-450B (minimum audit requirements for counties and other local governmental entities; independent auditors under written contract; generally accepted governmental auditing standards; $300,000 and $200,000 thresholds; filing within nine months after the end of the audit period; as amended 2025 ch. 71). The section is in Title 67, chapter 4. 2 C.F.R. § 200.501 (single audit when an entity expends $1,000,000 or more in federal awards in its fiscal year; eCFR text as of October 1, 2026). § 67-1076(6) (audits submitted to the Controller's online portal and provided to the Legislative Services Office).
47. Idaho Code § 67-1075 (the State Controller keeps the uniform accounting manual and a public website for local government data; entities continue reporting to the Legislative Services Office until the Controller directs otherwise); Idaho Code § 31-1509 (county accounting meets generally accepted accounting principles and, "upon notification by the state controller," the uniform manual); Idaho Code § 67-448 (the Committee on Uniform Accounting and Transparency for Local Governmental Entities, with the Controller as a member).
48. Idaho Code § 67-1076(1) through (2) (county clerk notifies entities and sends a list of taxing districts; entities submit budget, unaudited budget-to-actual comparison, date of last audit and debt information "on or before December 1 of each year"). The State Controller's May 2026 registry webinar says submissions for the 2026 reporting year "will now need to be completed by July 1" and that auditor letters are no longer accepted in lieu of an audit; the registry page also says July 1. The Idaho Association of Counties' April 2025 slides say December 1. I did not find a statute amending the December 1 date.
49. Idaho Code § 67-1076(7) (late fee of up to $500 per day after a thirty-day notice; public notice at the entity's expense; no budget increase under § 63-802(1)(a) or (e); withholding of the quarterly sales tax distribution; for non-taxing entities a compliance meeting, a fee of up to $5,000 and a possible special audit); § 67-448(7) (the committee "may direct the legislative services office to perform an audit on a local governmental entity").