21-05-2025
Here's who prevailed in Tuesday's Boise-area election, including library trustees
Not long after polls closed at 8 p.m. Tuesday, elections offices in Ada and Canyon counties began releasing results of the May consolidated election.
The typically low-profile election included contentious library trustee races in Meridian and Ada County and a number of tax measures put forth by school, fire and ambulance districts seeking millions in taxpayer dollars.
Ada County voted just 8% turnout, with 21,535 ballots cast.
Here's what voters weighed in on and where results landed:
Tuesday's election was the first for Boise-area library districts since a state law went into effect in July allowing patrons to challenge and even sue libraries if they fail to protect minors from 'harmful materials.' Fierce debate over the place of books with LGBTQ+ or other themes some deem inappropriate took center stage in trustee races in the Meridian Library and Ada Community Library districts.
In a lopsided Meridian library race, incumbent Jeff Kohler and newcomer Garrett Castle breezed by two opponents, Phil Reynolds and Mike Hon, who were part of a group that tried to dissolve the library district in 2023.
Unofficial results show Kohler with 40.6% of the vote, Castle with 39.4%, Hon with 10.3% and Reynolds with 9.7%.
In 2023, Destinie Hart beat out an opponent also affiliated with Concerned Citizens of Meridian, the group that petitioned to dissolve the district, at a wide margins of roughly 68% to 32%.
Unofficial results revealed a much tighter race for trustee seats for the Ada Community Library, where two pairs of candidates faced off for two seats. Suzette Moore, who was appointed to the board last month to fill a vacancy, teamed up with Rachel Moorhouse, with the support of trustee Steven Ricks, who served as the pair's treasurer and donated to their campaign. Moore and Moorhouse faced off against Johnathon Baldauf and Travis Worwood, who said they were running to 'protect our libraries' and continue the library district's work.
Moorhouse and Moore beat Worwood and Baldauf, with all four falling in a 5 percentage point grouping. Totals were as follows: Moorhouse: 25.9%; Moore: 23.5%; Worwood: 22.9%; Baldauf: 20.8%.
Two other names, Sabrina Napolitano and Lori Billaud, appeared on the ballot but they suspended their campaigns after the deadline. Napolitano and Billaud told the Statesman they threw their support behind Moore and Moorhouse. A total of 637 votes were cast for Napolitano or Billaud.
The auditorium district 'is dedicated to promoting economic activity and growth in the Boise area,' according to its website. It raises most of its money from tourists and business visitors, rather than local residents, through a 5% tax on hotel rooms.
On Tuesday, voters in Boise, Garden City and parts of Meridian and unincorporated Ada County were poised to select candidates for two seats with six-year terms. Incumbent Jim Walker (40.1%) and Sophie Sestero (36.7%) topped Danielle Horras (8.1%) and Aimee Pollard Tylor (15.2%) by wide margins.
The new board will consider how to steward the tens of millions of dollars in reserves it has built up as the region grows and attracts visitors. A possible sports arena or an expansion of the Boise Centre, the downtown convention center, are on the table for the district.
Property-tax payers in Canyon County passed a levy to support new paramedics and EMTs in the county's ambulance district. The district sought the $7.9 million-a-year levy that would expire after two years, after two previous levies failed. This one was estimated to cost taxpayers $18.62 a year per $100,000 of taxable assessed value.
The levy required 50% plus one vote to pass. It passed Tuesday evening with the support of just over 58% of the almost 12,000 votes counted.
The Star Fire Protection District and the Middleton Rural Fire District each asked voters for an additional $2.25 million a year in property tax revenue, but neither succeeded.
In both rapidly growing districts, more voters supported the levies than opposed them, but it was not enough to meet the two-thirds threshold required for the measures to prevail. In Star, 54.7% of voters supported the levy, while in Middleton, 51.1% of voters were supportive.
Money from the levy would have gone toward operating a new Star fire station on Floating Feather Road plus other staff and district expenses. The adjoining districts have an expense-sharing partnership and ran nearly identical levies on the ballot. However, the tax burden for homeowners was different for those in Middleton and Star, which has a larger property-tax base. The levy would have cost homeowners in Middleton an estimated $61.7 a year per $100,000 of taxable assessed value, compared to an estimated cost of $44.79 per year per $100,000 in Star.
The Middleton School District's fifth attempt to pass a bond for a new elementary school failed, despite a much lower cost to taxpayers than previous endeavors. The $19.9 million school bond earned the support of 53.1% of voters — not the two-thirds majority it needed.
The money would have gone toward building the district's first new school in 17 years, a 700-student elementary school that would have been part of a 300-acre development along the north side of Idaho 44 in Star. Developers even agreed to donate and prepare the land for the school.
Superintendent Mark Gee told the Statesman last month that the district, now over capacity in two of its three elementary schools, first started looking for a site for a new school in 2015, and in 2018 ran a bond that failed three times. A fourth with an updated plan failed in 2022. This bond would have cost taxpayers about $34 per $100,000 of assessed value, much less than the estimated $161 per $100,000 in the last attempt in 2022.
The Vallivue School District around Nampa and Caldwell sought to renew a $7 million yearly supplemental levy that voters previously approved and that is set to expire on June 30, 2026. The two-year renewal levy would help pay for transportation, teachers and other personnel and programs that state funding won't pay for, the Statesman reported ahead of the election. What's unique about this levy is it sought to decrease costs for taxpayers by $11 per $100,000 of taxable assessed value compared to the existing levy.
Of the almost 12,000 who turned out, 62.2% of voters supported the levy, while 37.8% opposed it. As a supplemental levy, it needed only a simple majority to pass.
Unofficial results:
Eagle Sewer District, 6-year term (two seats):
James Gruber (incumbent): 24.9%
John R. Bennett (incumbent): 20.8% (617)
Angela Stoppello Russell: 20.8% (615)
Deborah L. Kowalcyk: 19.6%
Christopher Hadden: 13.8%
Eagle Sewer District, 2-year term (one seat):
Tillie Reed (incumbent): 56.4%
Miguel DeLuna: 43.6%
West Boise Sewer District, 6-year term (one seat):
Gerald W. Bresina: 52.4%
Logan J. Kimball: 47.7%
For more information on each of these races, read the Statesman's pre-election roundup and Meridian Library District voter guide.
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