Voters in Valley County Tuesday will see a familiar ask on the ballot: a levy to support expanded emergency medical service response across the county.
Voters one year ago approved creating a new county-wide ambulance district, but narrowly voted down the levy needed to pay for what was being proposed. The existing levy, set in 2009, generates about $1.2 million dollars a year, well below what it currently costs local fire districts to operate EMS response.
For years, the county could rely on volunteer first responders to help staff ambulances. Those days are gone in Valley County and across the state, as Idaho’s growing population requires more and predictable emergency services. Efforts to designate EMS an ‘essential service’ statewide, which would open doors for more funding opportunities, stalled last year in the statehouse.
Individual fire districts in Valley County have subsidized local EMS response for years, and the county has used federal payment in lieu of taxes (PILT) funding to help prop up the costs of ambulance services beyond what the existing levy provides. People who need ambulance trips are billed for the service.
“All the districts are dipping into reserves to maintain status quo,” said McCall Fire Chief Garrett de Jong. He’s worked to educate voters on the levy issue for the last 14 months. It’s a steep tax increase, about triple the current tax rate to more than triple the current EMS budget.
“We've built even more community support around [the levy], and more people are knowledgeable about it,” he said by phone. 'We've really put ourselves out there, to answer [voters] and show them the budget and show them what we're working with and all the different factors that go into what it is," de Jong said.
But he said the county was advised not to run another levy so soon. It requires a two-thirds supermajority to pass. Valley County records show it failed by approximately 63 votes in the November 2023 election. More voters turned out in the May primary, and the levy failed again, by about 98 votes.
Record turnout is expected in the November 2024 elections, but the county can't afford to wait.
“The county has enough money, and the county EMS district has enough money to staff and run one ambulance for Valley County,” he said. “The question to voters is really, are you approving funding for three ambulances with a [new] fourth?”
That would meet the needs of the county, de Jong has said previously, with one unit in each major town and a fourth unit for backup.
It’s not clear what happens if voters say no a third time, but emergency response is expected to be compromised. The special funding measures are only in place through the end of the current fiscal year.
The newly formed ambulance district is in charge of the budget, but receiving additional funding from the county is unlikely.
“Valley County EMS will need to severely restrict the type of emergency services that will be available if this levy does not pass,” county commissioner Sherry Maupin wrote in an email. She confirmed that PILT funds used the previous two years to support EMS were now exhausted and there were no other funding options.
Taxpayers are frustrated, de Jong said. They feel like they shouldn’t have to pick up so much of the tab for the area’s tourism-driven growth and activity, which he understands. But even in the face of two failed levy attempts in less than a year, he remains optimistic.
“I think all of us felt like we owe it to the taxpayers to show them what ‘good’ looks like, and what the EMS district needs to meet their needs.”
