COEUR D'ALENE, Idaho — Editor's Note: The video with this story is from a story KTVB aired about a state auction for lots at Payette Lake.
The Idaho Department of Lands auctioned off 16 state endowment-owned lake front lots at Priest Lake during an auction in Coeur d'Alene on Saturday.
The land sales generated $13,161,440, which is $3,560,440 over the appraised value, for the endowment fund that supports public schools, with five properties selling for the appraised value and 11 selling to competitive bidding.
The Idaho Constitution requires a public auction for the disposal of state endowment trust lands, and IDL can accept no less than the appraised value of the properties.
Six properties were vacant unleased lots, and competitive bidding was active on five of those properties.
Ten properties auctioned had homes on them. The land is owned by endowment beneficiaries, and the cabins and other improvements on the land are owned by leaseholders as personal property.
The auction was for the land only.
Current leaseholders purchased eight of the 10 lots, two of the lots were won by non-lessee bidders. The winning non-lessee bidders will pay the amount bid for the land and the appraised value of the personal property, which will be reimbursed to the lessee.
The Idaho Department of Land manages more than 2.5 million acres of state endowment trust land under the direction of the Land Board. The Land Board is comprised of Idaho’s governor, secretary of state, attorney general, state controller, and superintendent of public instruction.
In 2010, the Land Board approved a plan to divest the state's ownership of most cottage sites at at Priest and Payette lakes over time.
Including Saturday's auction, 463 cottage sites have been sold – 315 lots at Priest Lake (293 leased and 22 unleased) and 148 lots at Payette Lake (127 leased and 21 unleased) – for a total of $218,326,625 for the endowments.
The funds from the land sales will be deposited in the "Land Bank" and used to purchase other lands in Idaho or they may go into a Permanent Fund, in order to continue earning returns for the endowment beneficiaries.
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