In Star, each new home carries a set of per-home charges before a buyer ever sees the price. The city's mitigation fees for police and fire come to $6,960 per home, and those are only part of the total. A new parks and police impact fee package approved in April adds about $4,500 more. Then in May, voters in the Star Fire Protection District approved a temporary levy, so part of the cost of growth now lands on resale owners' property tax bills too.
If you're comparing a new build in Star with a resale a few streets away, you're looking at two different ways of paying for the same city services. Neither one shows up in the median price.
The Charges a Builder Pays Before You See a Price
Boise Regional REALTORS' September 2026 report, published October 9, puts Star's median sale price at about $627,500. That number blends resale homes, whose growth charges were paid years ago, with new homes whose charges are current. Here are the growth charges tied to a new single-family home in Star, based on the most recent reporting:
| Charge | Amount per home | Who pays it | Most recent source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Police mitigation fee | $3,360 | Developer, per new home | BoiseDev, Feb. 2026 |
| Fire mitigation fee | $3,600 | Developer, per new home | BoiseDev, Feb. 2026 |
| Parks and police impact fees | About $4,500 added | New development | BoiseDev, April 2026 |
| Fire district impact fee | $2,152 | Single-family unit | City fee schedule, 2025 |
| Star Fire temporary levy | Est. $37.69/yr per $100,000 net taxable value | All property owners in the district | MidStar Fire, 2026 |
The $2,152 fire district figure comes from the city's 2025 fee schedule, adopted before the April changes, so check it against the current schedule. The top four rows are charged on new development. The last row reaches everyone.
BoiseDev reported that the April package "will add $4,500 for the cost of a new home in Star." That phrasing is accurate. The charge goes to the builder, and it becomes part of what the home costs to produce.
Why Star Leans on Per-Home Fees
The reason goes back to a 2021 state law. House Bill 389 was passed as property tax relief, and it limits how much tax revenue cities can collect from new growth. Star has had more new growth to absorb than almost anywhere in Idaho. The Idaho Statesman reported that the city grew about 130% between 2020 and 2025, from 11,000 residents to more than 25,000.
When property tax can't keep pace with population, a city looks for revenue somewhere else. In 2022, Star adopted mitigation fees on new homes to pay for police and fire staffing. The original rates were $1,120 for police and $1,200 for fire. In 2024 the city raised them to $3,360 and $3,600. In a February 2026 report, BoiseDev said that as of the end of November the fees had raised $5.8 million for police and about $6.2 million owed to the Middleton Star Fire District.
The April impact fee package took the same approach further. The parks fee goes from $2,050 to $5,869, phased in at 80%, 90% and then 100% over three years, alongside a new police impact fee. Because of the phase-in, a home permitted in the first year carries a smaller parks fee than one permitted in the third.
The Building Contractors Association of Southwestern Idaho opposed the package at a hearing that ran more than three hours. In BoiseDev's coverage, Adam Capel of the BCA said, "We do believe in the principle that growth should pay for growth, but what we cannot support are fees where new growth is being asked to correct existing deficiencies or subsidize past underinvestment." The council approved the package unanimously after scaling it back. Council members did not accept the builders' argument that it would substantially affect home affordability in Star.
Two Kinds of Fees, With Different Legal Footing
Star's impact fees and mitigation fees work differently, and the difference matters if you're looking at a new home.
Idaho code authorizes impact fees. They're one-time charges for one-time projects like parks, stations and equipment, and they can't pay salaries. Mitigation fees pay for the people: officers and firefighters. Jerry Long, who teaches property and land use law at the University of Idaho, told BoiseDev that the mitigation fee would likely be overturned if challenged in court, because state law doesn't explicitly give cities that power. He also said the code doesn't anticipate a situation like Star's, where any growth has an outsized effect on a small community's services.
That's one professor's view, not a ruling, and the fees were in effect as of the latest reporting. The 2022 resolution also calls for the city and the BCA to revisit the fees every two years starting in April 2024. In February, BoiseDev said the fees "are up for another possible change later this year." If you're comparing builders' pricing across a year, fee changes are one reason base prices can shift for reasons that have nothing to do with demand.
Since May, Resale Owners Pay Too
Before May, Star paid for much of its growth through charges on new homes. On May 19, 2026, voters in the Star Fire Protection District and the Middleton Rural Fire District approved temporary levies after several failed attempts. KIVI reported that both passed by simple majority.
Star's levy adds $2,225,000 a year to the district's operating budget for two years. Before the election, the district estimated the cost at $37.69 a year per $100,000 of net taxable assessed value. For a $550,000 home with the $125,000 homeowner's exemption, that came to about $13.34 a month.
That cost applies to every taxable property in the district, whether it was built in 1995 or last spring. The district's levy information names 24/7 staffing for Station 55 at 9415 W. Floating Feather Road as one of its goals. As of this writing, the district's stations page still lists Station 55 as not staffed due to funding. The levy is temporary by design, so treat the two-year window as a known end date in your carrying-cost math, not as a permanent line item.
The Road the Fees Couldn't Pay For
Per-home fees can cover parks and police cars. They couldn't cover the widening of State Street, also called SH-44. The last 1.5 miles of two-lane highway within city limits, between Star Road and Highway 16, ended up on ITD's unfunded list after the Legislature cut the department's funding. The Idaho Statesman reported that residents sent several hundred messages asking ITD to restore it, and the department did.
The project will widen that stretch from two lanes to five. It's budgeted at up to $16 million, utility relocation was scheduled to start in early October, and final completion is set for November 2027. Star already uses its own "proportionate share" policy, adopted in 2020, which requires developers to help pay for state highway improvements. According to the Statesman, that money widened Highway 44 from State Street to the county line without help from ITD.
Commercial growth along the same road is moving faster. On July 7, the city approved Ahlquist's Moyle Junction, a 16-acre project between Plummer Road and Moyle Avenue with retail, office and medical space. Its approval conditions include turn lanes, road improvements and sidewalks. Mayor Trevor Chadwick told the Statesman that "Seventy percent of the traffic that comes through Star originates out of Canyon County." If your commute uses State Street, the next year includes construction before the road gets wider.
Questions to Settle Before You Write an Offer
- For a new build: Ask the builder which permit date the home was issued under. That date determines which parks fee phase applied and whether any mitigation fee change had taken effect.
- For a resale: Ask for the most recent property tax bill. The temporary fire levy shows up on the next bill after the levy year begins.
- For both: Confirm the home sits inside the Star Fire Protection District boundary. The Middleton Rural Fire District passed a separate levy for the same dollar amount, aimed at Station 54 on Harvey Road.
- For commuters: Map your route against the SH-44 work zone between Star Road and Highway 16 for the next year.
- For anyone comparing cities: Fee structures differ across the valley. BoiseDev noted that Boise's new-home impact fees run from $1,384 to $14,690, depending on size and location.
Common Questions
Do resale buyers pay Star's impact or mitigation fees? The impact and mitigation fees reported by BoiseDev are charged on new development. Resale owners in the Star Fire Protection District do pay the temporary fire levy approved in May 2026.
How long does the fire levy last? The district put it on the ballot as a two-year temporary increase to its operating budget.
Are the mitigation fees going to change? They're reviewed with the BCA every two years, and in February BoiseDev reported that a change was possible later in 2026. Ask the city about the current rate when you're comparing new-home pricing.
When will State Street be five lanes through Star? ITD's target for final completion of the Star Road to Highway 16 segment is November 2027.
This post is general information, not legal, tax or financial advice. Please confirm fees, levies and your own tax situation with the City of Star, the fire district, a tax professional or your lender.
If you're weighing a new build against a resale in Star and want to see how fees, the levy and the commute change the comparison, Stephen Sawyer can walk through it with you, home by home. Schedule a free consultation.
