Idaho committee mulls governor residence

Idaho is one of just five states that doesn’t have a designated residence for its governor — but that may change as the housing stipend fund is nearing depletion.

The Governor’s Housing Committee said at a meeting Wednesday that they want to begin looking into building or buying a home. Gov. Brad Little, who has a salary of $138,202, currently receives a monthly stipend of $4,550.67 to pay rent at a downtown Boise condo. Little and his wife, Teresa, also live at their home in Emmett.

The source of the stipend, the Governor’s Residence Fund, will be essentially depleted by fiscal year 2026, staff said at the meeting, and it will require action by the Legislature to continue.

“If we were going to ask for an appropriation anyway … maybe asking for an appropriation to buy an asset, as opposed to appropriating money to give them to either bank or pay a mortgage with, I feel like that might be a more appropriate route to consider going forward,” Rep. Jaron Crane, R-Nampa, said Wednesday at the meeting.

Crane and Sen. Ali Rabe, D-Boise, were the only members of the committee present. The other two listed committee members, Abby Lee and Colin Nash, stepped down from the Legislature.

Rabe agreed with Crane that it would likely make more sense to purchase a home, but said she needed more information to make a decision of that magnitude. She noted that the possibility comes up at nearly every committee meeting.

The state owns a 15-acre property in the Boise foothills that was intended for use as a future governor’s residence. Various plans have been drawn up since 1988 but with no movement forward on them, the Idaho Press previously reported. The land is leased to the city of Boise for its Ridge to Rivers trail system.

The Department of Administration required action from the lawmakers Wednesday because the department must turn in its budget request by Aug. 27. The committee members voted to maintain the same stipend, which is based on 2018 market information and hasn’t increased since.

The two also voted to include in the budget a request for an ongoing appropriation to address the depleting fund. The ask will be for $60,600 annually to keep the fund going at its current level. By fiscal year 2026, the fund will drop to around $12,000.

The last occupied official governor mansion, which had been used since 1947, was sold in 1990 because it had deteriorated and later governors declined to live there. The $221,000 in proceeds from the sale and a one-time $778,000 appropriation from the state’s Permanent Building Fund created the governor’s residence account. No more funds have been added to the account since.

The Simplot family donated a mansion to the state in 2004 for use as a governor’s residence, but then-Gov. Butch Otter declined to live in the home owned by his ex-wife’s family and opted instead to live on his ranch in Star. The state returned the house to the family in 2013 and the building was demolished in 2016.

If the committee later decides to pursue purchasing or building a home, the residence fund could be used toward that project rather than a stipend.

Guido covers Idaho politics for the Lewiston Tribune, Moscow-Pullman Daily News and Idaho Press of Nampa. She may be contacted at lguido@idahopress.com and can be found on Twitter @EyeOnBoiseGuido.