Boise homeowners went to court to try to void a tax district. See what a judge decided
An Ada County judge has ruled against taxpayers in Southeast Boise’s Harris Ranch who fought against a special tax district they argued was unlawful.
The district covering Harris Ranch in Barber Valley, called the Harris Ranch Community Infrastructure District, collects taxes to reimburse developers who spend money on certain types of public infrastructure, such as new streets and parks.
The case revolved around whether taxpayers or developers should be responsible for paying for that infrastructure.
The legal battle reached a resolution Tuesday when 4th District Judge Nancy Baskin denied a petition for judicial review from Larry Crowley and Bill Doyle — two Harris Ranch homeowners — and the Harris Ranch Community Infrastructure District Taxpayers Association, which objected to the tax district’s existence and asked for it to be dissolved.
The district was formed in 2010 with just three votes. The first two votes came from the developers, Barber Valley Development and Harris Family Limited Partnership, and the third vote came from the only resident at the time in what would become the district: a farmhand.
When the court case began in May 2022, there were roughly 1,000 homes within the district, all of which have been built since 2010.
The taxpayers had requested that the court “find and determine that the adoption of the Harris Ranch (Community Infrastructure District) resolutions and the actions authorized and approved thereby were and are unlawful, invalid and void,” according to previous Idaho Statesman reporting.
Baskin wrote in her conclusion that while aggrieved homeowners have the right to challenge a property tax district’s final decisions, they have to do so within the 60-day window required by state law.
The attorney representing the taxpayers association, Nicholas Warden, had argued that prior actions should be considered, because those gave the tax district’s board the power to carry out two resolutions in 2021 that did fall within the 60-day limit when the court case was filed.
The two items authorized by the resolutions were $7.1 million in payments to Harris Ranch’s developers and the issuance of $5.2 million in bonds to cover the costs of roads and stormwater ponds.
Baskin wrote in the 64-page ruling that the resolutions did not violate the Community Infrastructure District Act, the district’s development agreement, the Idaho Constitution or the U.S. Constitution. She said she understands why the petitioners feel aggrieved by the taxes levied in the resolutions, but noted that the court is “mindful that nobody is obligated to purchase property within the district.”
Crowley, president of the taxpayers association, told the Statesman by phone that its legal team plans to get together early next week to review the ruling and determine next steps.
In the court’s decision, Baskin determined that the taxpayers association will not have to pay attorneys’ fees for the district or Harris Ranch Limited Partnerships because “this is a first time the (Community Infrastructure District) Act has been litigated, and petitioners raised many complex matters of first impression challenging the legality of the district’s decisions.”
