A state committee is recommending Gov. Brad Little’s annual housing stipend stays flat at about $60,000 a year.
The Governor’s Housing Committee on Wednesday recommended Little’s $4,551 extra monthly check remain the same for the upcoming fiscal year that starts next July.
Idaho is one of five states without a governor’s mansion. It sold the last one in Boise’s North End in 1989 and former Gov. Butch Otter never occupied a donated home from his ex-father-in-law, J.R. Simplot.
State officials eventually demolished the Simplot mansion and has otherwise paid its governors monthly to cover expenses.
Rep. Jaron Crane (R-Nampa), who serves on the governor’s housing committee, suggested officials remodel an existing state-owned building to save money, like the Alexander House a few blocks from the capitol building.
“I use that building as an example of one that … could be remodeled and facelifted a little bit, restored, repurposed maybe for that as an option,” Crane said.
Little owns a home in Emmett, as well as a condo in downtown Boise.
The committee last year considered building or buying a new governor’s mansion but never took action.
The state owns 15 acres along West Horizon Drive in the Boise Foothills. In addition to the account used to pay for the governor’s stipend through the Permanent Building Fund, another account holds about $217,000 that could be used for the construction or furnishing of a future mansion.
State lawmakers could tweak the stipend when they return to Boise in January through the Department of Administration’s budget.
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