CASCADE, Idaho — Snow plowing and road maintenance in Valley County will likely be slashed by half after voters declined to raise their own property taxes to help officials grapple with a federal funding shortfall.
Fifty-one percent of those who turned out at the polls backed the Valley County roads override levy, but it fell far short of the two-thirds majority needed to pass. A total of 1,194 people backed the levy, while 1,159 opposed it.
The levy's failure leaves the county staring down a looming funding crisis.
According to county commissioners, the federal government used to give Valley County $3 million a year for road maintenance, but are no longer providing funding for rural roads. The Idaho Transportation Department will continue to maintain and plow Idaho 55, but the county roads department is facing a major shortfall.
Currently, Valley County plows 400 miles of roads every winter.
Valley County Commissioner Sherry Maupin told KTVB last week that the county will be forced to cut back significantly on plowing services and road and bridge maintenance.
"Our hands are tied," she said. "We have no other funding source in order to do this."
Only people whose primary residence is in Valley County were allowed to weigh in on the levy, although three-quarters of houses in the county are second homes. The levy's failure will affect those non-fulltime residents as well, Maupin said, as a portion of them would no longer be able to reach their properties in the winter months if the county stops removing snow from the roads.
The levy would have raised taxes $84 per $100,000 in assessed value, and was expected to bring in an estimated $4 million.
Correction: An earlier version of this story said that the levy needed a majority to pass. It needed a super-majority, or two-thirds of the vote.