You know the thrill when you thrust a hand into a coat pocket, feel an unexpected scrap of paper and pull out the $20 bill you forgot you had put there?

Baker County, along with its incorporated cities, school districts and other districts that get a share of property taxes, is in a similar situation.

In this case, unlike the 20 bucks in the pocket, the money wasn’t forgotten.

It just wasn’t available.

Until now.

Here’s what happened:

For the past four years, Idaho Power Company, the county’s largest property taxpayer — its bill last year was $2.2 million — has appealed to Oregon’s Tax Court the property valuation on which the tax bill is based.

(The Oregon Department of Revenue calculates property value for large corporations such as Idaho Power. For homes and other smaller properties, the county assessor handles that task.)

The state pegged the value of Idaho Power’s properties statewide (not just in Baker County) at $579 million. The company argued that the value was no more than $323 million.

While the appeals were languishing in court, Idaho Power paid taxes at the higher valuation rate.

But rather than distribute that money to the county, cities, school districts and other recipients, Kerry Savage, the county assessor, took the more responsible approach, as allowed under state law, of diverting some of the tax bill to a separate, interest-bearing account.

This avoided the potential of the county — and those taxing districts — having to repay Idaho Power had the company won its appeal outright.

The amounts are substantial. The county has set aside about $3.6 million in Idaho Power property taxes over the past four years.

But the company recently settled its appeals with the state.

Although the company will get about $1.2 million that it has paid in Baker County, that leaves about $2.4 million from the reserve account that the county can distribute to taxing districts.

Traci Robinson, the county treasurer, said she hopes to make those payments within two weeks. The amounts are based on the percentage that each district receives.

The three biggest recipients are:

• Baker County, which will get about 25%, approximately $600,000.

• Baker School District, which will receive about 22%, approximately $528,000.

• Baker City, which will get roughly 15%, about $360,000.

This is a one-time influx of dollars, to be sure.

And it’s money that the districts would have received, in smaller increments, over the past four years had Idaho Power not appealed.

Nonetheless, having an additional $360,000 will be a boon for Baker City. For context, that’s nearly half as much revenue as the city is collecting, per year, from the public safety fee it imposed in June 2024.

The county, which recently approved salary increases for most employees, can also use the additional dollars. Although county commissioner Michelle Kaseberg, who is also the county’s budget officer, said she hopes the county can also divert some of the Idaho Power payment to the contingency fund.

Jayson Jacoby is the editor of the Baker City Herald. Contact him at 541-518-2088 or jjacoby@bakercityherald.com.