Melissa Davlin reports:  Each fiscal year, Idaho taxing districts are allowed to raise their tax rates a maximum of 3 percent.

But a handful of those districts have the option of going above that limit. Idaho tax law allows districts that have not raised taxes by 3 percent to collect the amounts they passed up. As officials are putting together their budgets for next year, not all take advantage of that option, however.

A foregone balance is the difference between what taxing districts are allowed to levy and what they actually levy, explained Gary Houde, senior research analyst with theIdaho State Tax Commission.

If officials decide not to collect the maximum tax rate, the difference — the foregone balance — is set aside.

Don’t think of it as savings or reserve money, as the taxpayers haven’t yet paid it.

But if a county, city or other taxing entity wants to take advantage of its foregone balance in a coming fiscal year, it can raise taxes past the maximum 3 percent, collecting some or all of that set-aside amount.

Currently, 29 Idaho counties and 98 cities have foregone balances, Houde said. Those range from substantial amounts — $16.8 million in Ada County — to negligible figures as small as one or two bucks, like in Elmore and Jerome counties.

Most small cities in the eight-county Magic Valley region don’t have foregone balances, and many of those are relatively small amounts.

As those cities prepare their budgets proposals for the upcoming fiscal year, some have the option of tapping their foregone balances to boost tax collection revenue.

That doesn’t mean they’re going to.

Currently, the city of TwinFalls has $1.47 million in a foregone balance. In the proposed budget for fiscal year 2013, that foregone balance is left alone, said city manager Travis Rothweiler.

Hansen has a foregone balance of $46,714. Though officials are still working on a budget proposal, that amount will likely stay the same, said Hansen City Clerk Linda Morrill.

“We’re not claiming any of that,”she said.