May 2025 election results

By Zach Hagadone
Reader Staff

Bonner County voters went to the polls May 20 in an election that featured no candidates for local offices, but did include a number of taxing district levies — including in the West Bonner County School District and fire districts throughout the county.

The success of the WBCSD in gaining voters’ approval for an additional $2,353,440.60 per year for two years made headlines both locally and statewide, as the district’s yearslong financial struggles have threatened staff layoffs and school building closures. According to unofficial results, as of May 21, a total of 2,101 West Bonner residents voted in favor of the levy, with 1,751 against — a margin of 54.54% and 45.46%, respectively.

Pie chart showing the unnofficial vote tally for the WBCSD levy. Courtesy image.

Past levy attempts have failed at the ballot box in the district, but because the most recent request was supplemental, rather than permanent, it only required a simple majority to pass, according to Bonner County Clerk Michael Rosedale.

Overall turnout in the May 20 election was about 31%, with 7,981 of the 25,495 eligible voters participating (though those figures do not yet include same-day registrations). There are about 33,000 registered voters countywide, Rosedale said, but the nature of this particular election meant that not all of them would have anything on the ballot.

The reason for that had to do with the number of fire district levies on the ballot, specifically, Northside, Sagle, Spirit Lake and Westside. Depending on how those taxing district boundaries overlapped with voting precincts determined whether residents had items on their ballots. 

For instance, “none of them had anything to vote on” in the Humbird, Hope and Clark Fork precincts, Rosedale told the Reader, which was a source of confusion for some.

The only fire district levy approved by voters was in Spirit Lake, with a two-year $477,000 request, which passed 565 in favor and 469 against — or 54.64% to 45.36%.

Pie chart showing the unnofficial vote tally for Ponderay LOT. Courtesy image.

Northside’s levy was defeated 1,059 to 559 — or 65.45% to 34.55% — as well as Sagle’s (1,253 against and 741 in favor, for a margin of 62.84% to 37.16%) and Westside’s (402 against and 339 in favor, for 54.25% to 45.75%).

Those measures were all intended to provide more funding for firefighter staffing, equipment and maintenance, and general operations.

Selkirk Fire Chief Jeff Armstrong, who leads the Northside, Sagle and Westside fire districts, made the case for the levies at several public events, highlighting the need to improve fire service so that homeowners’ insurance coverage isn’t threatened. Meanwhile, “Just like everybody we’re seeing the cost of doing business is going up,” he said May 3 at the Idaho Fireplace Forum.

Opponents of the levy requests argued that the tax increases were not justified by the needs described by the chief, with the Bonner County Republican Central Committee coming out against the levies, calling them “massive tax increases” that come at a time when “taxpayers are already being pinched by record inflation and taxes for income, gas, groceries, sales taxes and other property taxes and government fees.”

If approved, the Northside levy would have raised an additional $1.2 million per year on a permanent basis, amounting to a tax of $61 per $100,000 of taxable assessed value. In Sagle, the fire district asked for a permanent increase for a total override of $750,000, resulting in a tax increase to $122 per year per $100,000 of taxable value. Likewise, Westside sought to raise an additional $810,358, also carrying a total tax burden of $122 per year per $100,000.

Elsewhere on the ballot, Ponderay voters overwhelmingly supported a 10% non-property tax on short-term rentals such as hotel/motel rooms, condominium units, tourist homes, bed-and-breakfasts, and similar temporary dwellings of 30 days or fewer.

Though with a turnout of only 90 in favor and 24 against, that resulted in 78.95% to 21.05% in favor of the tax, which would be levied for 12 years from its effective date, and revenue applied to roads, pathways, sidewalks, water, sewer and parking; recreation facilities, parks and maintenance; land acquisition; municipal and public transportation; public information and education; grant-matching contributions; property tax relief; and covering costs associated with collecting and enforcing the tax.

Considering that the 10% LOT would fall on non-property tax sources of revenue, Rosedale said, “I don’t think it shocked anybody [that it passed so handily].”

Bonner County residents in the Lakeland Joint School District also approved a $7.5 million two-year levy 58.97% to 41.03% — with the remainder of the district’s residents in Kootenai County pushing it to an overall 67% approval, according to Idaho EdNews, which also reported that Boundary County voters passed their $4.8 million levy with 69% support. 

Finally, the West Bonner Cemetery Maintenance District’s levy request for a permanent override of $74,000 failed to reach the necessary supermajority to pass, with 60.3% in favor and 39.77% against.

All results are unofficial until canvassed, which is scheduled to take place Thursday, May 29, at 8:30 a.m., in the third-floor Bonner County commissioners’ meeting room (1500 U.S. Hwy. 2, in Sandpoint). Participate in the canvas remotely at bonnercountyid.gov/events/92949.

For all other things election-related — including results — go to bonnercountyid.gov/elections or voteidaho.gov.