Stories in this Regional News Roundup are excerpted from weekly newspapers from around the region. This is part one, with part two scheduled to appear in Sunday’s Tribune.
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McCALL — The $4.22 million Valley Countywide EMS permanent levy override passed with 69.5% of the vote on Tuesday.
A two-thirds plus one vote majority was required for the tax to be approved.
On Tuesday, 4,986 people voted in favor of the levy, with 2,185 opposed.
The district saw two previous attempts to pass a permanent levy override fail, each earning about 64% of the vote.
“This is a huge win for the EMS System and Valley County residents,” said EMS District Commission Chair Travis Smith. “We can now sustainably fund what is needed now and in future.”
The district already levies about $1.39 million per year, and the additional $2.8 million will be used to fund ambulance services in Cascade, Donnelly and McCall.
The levy is projected to cost $35.52 per $100,000 in taxable property value per year.
The current levy costs about $12 per $100,000 in taxable property value per year and does not meet the cost of staffing ambulances, with fire districts supplementing the cost in each district.
“We won’t see the funding until January of 2026, but we will be able to plan and execute as planned,” Smith said. “We are going to move forward as we have presented all along.”
Cascade levy passes
The Cascade Schools two-year supplemental levy of $650,000 passed with a vote of 956 to 703, or about 57.6% in favor.
A simple majority of 50% plus one vote was required for the vote to pass.
“We are thrilled that our community continues to support our youth in this way, the levy money fills a lot of gaps and enriches the educational experiences for all of our learners and extends out into the community through athletics and our arts programs,” said Cascade Schools Superintendent Joni Stevenson.
The cost to district taxpayers will be $40.27 per $100,000 in taxable assessed property value per year.
The levy will raise $500,000 for salaries and benefits for teacher and staff.
Maintenance, transportation and food service will receive $100,000 of the levy, with $50,000 going to safety and security updates.
The district’s current supplemental levy expires on June 30, 2025. This new measure will raise property tax funding through June 30, 2027.
Cascade Schools has been supported by a supplemental levy every two years for the past 20 years.
“Thank you for the support, we are excited to be able to stay on mission and continue to develop a long-term strategic plan that our community has already been part of developing,” Stevenson said.
“We will work hard to maintain one of the highest performing small-rural educational systems in the State of Idaho and continue to push towards even greater excellence in all areas,” she said.
Proposition 1 falls flat
Proposition 1 failed to meet the 50% plus one vote majority required to pass by a wide margin with 609,521 votes in opposition and 264,638 votes in favor of the measure statewide.
The final turnout was about 70% in opposition statewide, although not all counties had reported election results as of Wednesday morning.
In Valley County, residents voted 4,333 opposed to 2,844 in favor of the measure.
If adopted, the proposition would have abolished the current party-based primary system by combining primary candidates of all parties in one vote with Democrats, Republicans and other candidates competing directly.
The top four vote-earners of any affiliation would then move on to the general election.
The general election would then operate as a ranked-choice voting system featuring those four candidates.
In the general election, voters list their preferred candidates in first through fourth, but are not required to list all candidates.
Votes would then be counted in successive rounds, with the candidate receiving the least votes eliminated each time. The candidate with the most votes in the final round would win.
— Max Silverson, The Star-News (McCall), Thursday
Commissioners taking class-action group’s concerns seriously
POMEROY –– The Garfield County Board of Commissioners (BOCC) discussed emails from a class action group, approved the date for a floating holiday, and approved a request to light the courthouse for Red Ribbon Week at their meeting Nov. 4.
In response to emails from a class action group, Commissioner Jim Nelson stated “We have reached out to outside agencies. We are taking this seriously.” Details of the allegations were not discussed due to the fact that they concern an active investigation.
The floating holiday, determined yearly by the Garfield County employees’ group, will be observed Dec. 25. The courthouse will be open Monday, Thursday and Friday of Christmas week, and closed Tuesday and Wednesday.
The commissioners approved a request from Pirate Partners to light the courthouse red at night for Red Ribbon Week, Nov. 18 through Nov. 22. Red Ribbon Week is a drug use awareness and prevention campaign that has been ongoing since 1988. The courthouse will be lit on Nov. 17 and the Pirate Partners will host a pizza party with lawn games after the lighting. There will be several events held at the Pomeroy School District for students as well.
In further business, the BOCC approved the adjustment of two transactions that were mistakenly posted to the wrong fund.
— Naomi Scoggin, East Washingtonian (Pomeroy), Thursday
