Valley County voters approved a change in the levy rate for the area’s EMS district as part of Tuesday’s general election.
The ballot item, which asked to increase the current levy to $2.8 million from $1.4 million, received 69.5% of the vote, or nearly 5,000 votes in favor, with 30.5% of voters voting against, or about 2,200 votes.
Valley County leaders expressed their gratitude for the outcome Wednesday morning.
“I’m so relieved, so thankful,” Cascade Fire Chief Steve Hull said. “It’s a huge weight lifted off of our shoulders, for sure.”
McCall Fire Chief Garrett de Jong said, “we couldn’t have done it without all of the teamwork between the three fire districts, county commissioners, cities, and everybody that helped contribute to it.”
Because it was an override vote, the measure needed a super majority of 66.67% of votes to pass. It marked the third time that district voters considered an EMS district levy increase in the last year.
Ahead of the vote, Valley County leaders had emphasized that the EMS District needed more funding to support additional full-time staff, purchase a fourth ambulance, and take the burden off of local fire departments, which had effectively subsidized the district.
The additional funding would allow each EMS station — McCall, Donnelly, and Cascade — to staff enough personnel to respond to two emergency calls at once, as previously reported.
Valley Countywide EMS District Commissioner Travis Smith called the outcome “a huge win for the EMS system and Valley County residents.”
“We can now sustainably fund what is needed now and in the future,” Smith said.
Smith said the district will not receive additional funds until January 2025. However, he said knowing the funding is coming is very helpful for planning district operations over the next year and beyond.
Smith told BoiseDev in October that he anticipates that the funding secured through the levy override will provide enough funding for operations until at least the 2040s.
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