Your First 90 Days in Office

New officials tend to arrive with a list of things to fix and leave their first budget season wondering where the year went. The first three months are mostly about learning how the place actually works: who does what, where the money comes from, what the calendar forces, and which of your campaign ideas the body can legally do. This lesson lays out what to learn and in what order, using the Idaho statutes and training programs that apply to your office. Lesson 08 covered the oath and ethics rules and lesson 09 the open meetings and records duties. Read those first if you have not.

Training and orientation

We found no statute requiring most new local officials to complete a general orientation course. The associations that serve them run programs built for the first year anyway, and they are the fastest way to learn the job.

Office	Who offers it	What it is (as of October 2026)	Cost
County elected officials and staff	Idaho Association of Counties	County Officials Institute (COI): fall and spring sessions around the state, conferences that award COI credit, and on-demand webinars, with tracks and certificates. Fall 2026 sessions are scheduled in Idaho Falls (Nov. 12), Coeur d'Alene (Nov. 18), Nampa (Dec. 3) and Twin Falls (Dec. 10). IAC's recap of its 2022 fall sessions said they wrapped up just in time for newly elected county officials to take office.	No fee to take part in COI; webinars free; in-person events carry their own registration fees
Mayors and council members	Association of Idaho Cities	Manuals and video training for city elected officials and staff; City Officials' Day at the Capital and Water Summit in January; a clerks, treasurers and finance officers institute in September for staff	Varies by event
School trustees	Idaho School Boards Association	"Get on Board" package: a new board member packet with two governance books and a booklet, plus six monthly noon webinars for new and first-year members from January through June (2026 topics ran from roles and relationships to school law, school finance and student data). ISBA also lists state-required trainings, including literacy intervention and continuous improvement plan training for boards.	$300 for the package; $50 per single webinar; live webinars may be reimbursable
Every governing body	Idaho Attorney General	The AG's office says it "regularly conducts training sessions for state and local officials" on the Open Meeting Law and public records law, and publishes free manuals on open meetings, public records and ethics	Manuals free

Special district officials (highway, fire, library, cemetery, water and others) generally have their own statewide associations. Ask your district's secretary or administrator which one the district belongs to and whether the district pays dues that include training. The district budget usually has a line for it.

Your own orientation

The most useful training is often in your own building. Ask the clerk or administrator for a half-day orientation and, in it, for these documents:

• the current adopted budget and the last two years of actual spending;
• the most recent independent audit and any management letter that came with it;
• the body's rules of order, bylaws or policy manual;
• a list of current contracts over a set amount, with end dates;
• any pending lawsuits or claims (the briefing on these belongs in a properly noticed executive session under 74-206(1)(f) or (i));
• the organization chart and the names of department heads;
• the records retention schedule and the custodian's name;
• the calendar for the next budget, including statutory deadlines.

Reading the budget and the calendar you inherit

Budgets in Idaho local government follow statute closely, which helps a new member: the deadlines are fixed, and they tell you when your input matters. For a full walk-through of budget documents, see The budget cycle and Funds and documents in course 26.

Step	County (Title 31 Ch. 16)	City (Title 50 Ch. 10)	School district (Title 33 Ch. 7 and 8)
Fiscal year starts	October 1 (31-1601)	October 1 (50-1001)	July 1 (33-701)
Departments submit requests	Budget officer notifies officials by the first Monday in May; estimates due by the third Monday in May (31-1602)	Set by council and staff	Set by the district
Proposed budget to the board	On or before the first Monday in August (31-1604)	Council prepares and tentatively approves a budget before the appropriation ordinance (50-1002)	Prepared in the form the state superintendent prescribes (33-801)
Public notice	Published no later than the third week in August, listing the two prior years' spending	Published twice, at least seven days apart, with the two prior years' figures and estimated property tax revenue	Posted and published under 33-402, with a summary of current and next-year budgets and two prior years' actuals
Hearing and adoption	Hearing on or before the Tuesday after the first Monday in September, finished by the second Monday in September; final budget may not exceed the tentative one or the advertised property tax (31-1605)	Hearing at which any interested person may appear, then the annual appropriation ordinance	Hearing at least 28 days (14 in some cases) before the regular July meeting; adoption at the hearing or a special meeting within 14 days (33-801)
Changes during the year	Adjust for unscheduled grants and revenue with no property tax increase; general reserve up to 5 percent of current expense, spent only by unanimous vote for an unforeseen need	Amend the appropriation ordinance under 50-1003	Budget adjustments need one week's written notice to each trustee, public notice, and a 60 percent vote of the board (33-701(9))

Put those dates against your swearing-in. A county commissioner sworn in on the second Monday of January has about four months before departments file requests and seven months before the tentative budget is set. A city council member sworn in at the January meeting is in the same position. A school trustee who takes office January 1 has roughly six months until the budget must be adopted for July. In each case the window to shape your first budget is short, and most of the work happens in spring workshops, not at the hearing.

Property tax rules set the outer limits of what you can levy. Course 35, Idaho Property Taxes, and the levies lesson in course 26, Levies and bonds, explain how the levy is set and what requires voter approval.

Board, staff and the line between them

Most governing bodies in Idaho decide policy, adopt the budget, and hire or oversee the top administrator, while staff run daily operations. The exact line depends on the form of government:

• Cities. In most Idaho cities, 50-602 makes the mayor the chief administrative official, with "superintending control of all the officers and affairs of the city," and the mayor presides over council meetings and votes only to break a tie. A council member has no individual authority over city staff. Cities that adopt the council-manager plan under 50-801 hand daily administration to a hired manager.
• Counties. The board of commissioners manages county business and the budget, but the clerk, treasurer, assessor, sheriff, coroner and prosecuting attorney are separately elected and run their own offices. Commissioners control the money for those offices, not the officers. Expect to negotiate.
• School districts. The board hires the superintendent and adopts policy under its bylaws (33-506); the superintendent runs the schools. The board organizes at its first regular meeting in January by electing a chair, vice chair, clerk and treasurer.
• Special districts. Usually a small board and one manager or secretary. The board's power is collective; no single commissioner directs the crew.

The practical rule in every form: speak to staff through the administrator, ask for information rather than give instructions, and remember that an individual member's request can feel like an order to an employee. If you want something done, put it on an agenda and get a majority.

Rules of order and public comment

Idaho law requires some bodies to adopt rules without dictating which rulebook. Idaho Code 33-510(4), amended in 2024, requires every school board to adopt rules of order and procedure, follow them, and make them available at each regular meeting and on its website. City councils run meetings "subject to such rules as the council may prescribe" (50-602). Some Idaho bodies adopt Robert's Rules of Order in whole or in part; others adopt shorter procedures written for small boards. Whatever your body uses, get a copy, read the sections on motions, amendments and reconsideration, and learn when a motion needs a second.

Several statutes set procedure regardless of the rulebook:

• Any member may pull an item from the consent agenda for a separate vote, and consent agendas may not include ordinances, fee resolutions or supermajority items (74-204(4)).
• No decision may be made by secret ballot (74-203(1)).
• Any member may require a roll call vote recorded by name in the minutes (74-205(1)(c)).
• School boards must give residents a chance to comment on school matters at regular meetings, and hear any offered comment before acting on an agenda item, though they may set reasonable time limits and conduct standards (33-510(5)). Residents may also ask to add a district business item to a regular meeting agenda, decided under the board's rules (33-510(7)).
• City council quorum is a majority of the full council, and questions are decided by a majority of members present unless a law says otherwise (50-705).

Public hearings on land use and similar decisions carry their own procedural rules; course 36, Idaho Planning and Zoning, covers them, and the public comment lesson in course 34, Public comment and hearings, covers the Open Meeting Law side.

Constituent service

Residents will call you about potholes, water bills, a neighbor's dog and the property tax notice. Most of these belong to staff. A good habit is to log each request, pass it to the right department through the administrator or clerk, and follow up once. Do it through your official email so there is a public record (see lesson 09), and do not promise outcomes that require a vote.

Cautions from the earlier lessons apply here. If a resident's issue will come before your body for a decision, especially a land use application or a permit appeal, keep your contact general and refer the person to the public hearing; private contact with you on a matter the body must decide on the record can become an issue in any appeal. And do not use constituent contacts for campaign purposes on public time or equipment (74-604).

Keep your own channel too. An email list you built during the campaign is a campaign asset, kept and paid for privately, and can be used for campaign updates. Course 70's lesson on email lists covers how to build and keep one, and its lesson on persuasion ethics and law covers what you may say. Keep official newsletters and campaign updates on separate lists, sent from separate accounts.

Staying in campaign mode, legally

Your campaign committee keeps reporting after you win. Under Idaho Code 67-6607, reports continue until the account shows no unexpended balance and no deficit, and in a nonelection year an annual report covering that year is due by January 10 of the next year. The details of report schedules and the Sunshine portal are in course 46, Running a candidate committee and Filing and research tools.

Leftover money has rules too. 67-6610C lets a candidate use contributions for campaign expenses, for "ordinary and necessary expenses incurred in connection with duties of the individual as a holder of public office," for gifts to 170(c) charities, for transfers to party committees, for donations to other state and local candidates within the limits, and for other lawful purposes. It bans conversion to personal use, defined as any expense that would exist without the campaign or the office: mortgage, rent and utilities, clothing beyond campaign shirts and hats, personal car costs, club and gym dues, vacations, tuition, entertainment, and most meals. Contribution limits for local candidates are in course 46, Who can give and how much.

Once in office, raising money for reelection is legal, with lines to watch. One is the Public Integrity in Elections Act: no public time, equipment, email or facilities for the campaign. The other is the Bribery and Corrupt Influence Act: no contribution may be tied, expressly or by understanding, to an official action, and officials with discretion over contracts should be wary of soliciting people bidding on them (18-1352 and 18-1356, covered in lesson 08).

Building relationships

Local government is small enough that relationships decide a lot. In the first three months:

• Meet each colleague one-on-one, keeping in mind the quorum rule from lesson 09. On a three-member county commission, that means meeting about anything except pending business, or not at all outside meetings.
• Meet your counterparts in neighboring governments. City councils, county commissions and highway and school districts share roads, tax bases and residents, and many joint agreements start with a coffee.
• Learn the names of the reporters who cover your body, and answer their calls. A quote you give is better than one you are described as declining to give.
• Meet the people who opposed you. Many will be at every meeting for the next four years.

A 30, 60 and 90 day plan

Window	Learn	Do	Avoid
Before the oath	Canvass results, oath and bond requirements, start date for your office	List your conflicts; get your official email; register for COI, AIC or ISBA training	Group texts or emails with members-elect about pending business
Days 1 to 30	Budget, audit, rules of order, organization chart, pending contracts and claims	Orientation with the clerk or administrator; meet department heads; set up devices and records habits (lesson 09)	Giving staff instructions; promising outcomes to constituents
Days 31 to 60	The budget calendar, fixed costs, where revenue comes from, the body's past votes on your issues	Attend training sessions; read a year of minutes; meet neighboring officials	Proposing big changes before you understand the budget
Days 61 to 90	What a majority of your colleagues will support	Ask staff for research on one priority; bring a first, modest agenda item; file any campaign report due	Bringing an item to a vote before you know you have the votes

Pictures, Numbers and Infographics

How much local government is there to run for? A lot. The Idaho Association of Counties' January 2026 presentation Idaho Property Taxes: Principles and Policies counts every entity with authority to levy a property tax, by type. In 2025 Idaho had 1,106 taxing districts, and 981 of them actually levied a property tax. Most of them have an elected board.

Type of taxing district (largest ten)	Total, 2025	Levied property tax, 2025
Cities	198	191
Cemetery districts	183	182
Fire districts	161	160
School districts	115	115
Highway districts and county road and bridge	96	75
Library districts	59	58
Sewer and water districts	54	16
Counties	44	44
Recreation districts	39	33
Ambulance districts	30	29
All other types (flood control, hospital, mosquito abatement, sewer, water, watershed, community college and others)	127	78
All taxing districts	1,106	981

Source: IAC, Idaho Property Taxes: Principles and Policies (January 2026), table "Types and Numbers of Taxing Districts." The 2024 total was 1,114, with 980 levying. The Association of Idaho Cities also gives 198 cities, and the Attorney General's manuals refer to the 44 elected county prosecuting attorneys, one per county. The "all other" row is the total minus the ten largest types.

For a prospective candidate, the smallest bodies are the most numerous: there are more cemetery districts than school districts and more fire districts than counties and school districts combined. Those boards often draw few candidates. And not every district levies. Of 54 sewer and water districts, only 16 levied a property tax in 2025; most are funded by user fees. Whether your district levies changes what you will be asked about at the door and what the budget hearing will look like.