What’s on the May 20 ballot, and what’s not

By Zach Hagadone
Reader Staff

Bonner County voters have an election to participate in on Tuesday, May 20, but not everyone will have something on the ballot. In fact, it may be confusing for many.

Residents in west Bonner County will have a school district levy and cemetery district levy to decide, Ponderay residents will consider a local option tax, those living within the Lakeland Joint School District will have a levy on the ballot and every voting precinct but Humbird, Hope and Clark Fork will have a choice to make on fire district levies — including Northside, Westside, Sagle and Spirit Lake.

That’s where this election might get a little difficult to navigate.

“Understand that even if there is voting at your precinct, you may personally not have something to vote on because you’re not in that district,” Bonner County Clerk Mike Rosedale told the Reader.

That is explained by how the fire districts overlay the voting precincts. Those who live in the Humbird Precinct are wholly covered by the Sandpoint Fire Department, and therefore do not pay into any of the area fire districts. Likewise with residents in Hope and Clark Fork, who are also not covered by any of the districts.

The Bonner County Elections Office in Sandpoint. Photo by Ben Olson.

However, all the other precincts have at least a portion of their area covered by either the Northside, Westside, Sagle or Spirit Lake fire districts.

Residents who live within the entirely covered or overlapping areas — sometimes just a “micro-sliver,” as Rosedale described it — will have an item on the ballot. However, if they live outside that district boundary, they won’t have anything to vote on — even if their overall precinct has an election.

“This is going to be an election where people will be frustrated, because they’ll go to vote and won’t have anything to vote on,” Rosedale said.

The best way to know whether a resident has something to vote on in the May 20 election is to visit bonnercountyid.gov/departments/CountyClerk, click on “Elections” in the menu, then click “What’s On The Ballot” near the bottom of the page.

There, voters will be prompted to enter their name and birthdate, which will pull up their registration status. If that page shows a sample ballot for the May 20 election, that means they live within one of the precinct areas that overlap with a fire district and will have a ballot on which to cast a vote. If not, they won’t need to go to the polls.

Better yet, Rosedale said, voters should call the Elections Office at 208-255-3631 with any questions about whether their residence lies within the taxing district boundary with an election.

Early voting is set to begin Monday, May 5 and continue through Friday, May 16. Meanwhile, the deadline to request a mail-in absentee ballot is Friday, May 9.

Early voting will be available Monday-Friday, 9 a.m.-5 p.m., at the Bonner County Elections Office (1500 Hwy. 2, Ste. 124, in Sandpoint). Absentee mail-in ballots may be requested by dropping off or mailing a completed form in person at the Elections Office, or by emailing the form or faxing to [email protected] or 208-255-3631, respectively.

What’s on (some) of the ballots

• The West Bonner County School District is proposing a supplemental maintenance and operation levy of $2,353,440.60 per year for two years, beginning July 1 and ending June 30, 2027. The single biggest portion of the levy amounts to $846,268.04 for support staff jobs, followed by $512,500 for school operating expenses, including utilities, maintenance, custodial grounds and transportation.

Student enrichment activities including art, music, co- and extracurriculars, among others, would be supported with $457,172.56, followed by $250,000 for the contingency fund; $125,000 for nurses and mental health support; $100,000 for classroom supplies, curriculum, learning materials and staff training; $37,500 for additional classes such as advanced placement, electives and career-technical education; and $25,000 for one bus per year.

If approved, the levy would cost taxpayers $43.41 per $100,000 of taxable assessed value per year.

• The West Bonner Cemetery Maintenance District is requesting voters authorize a base budget increase from property tax revenues from $68,330 to $142,545.33 — a difference of $74,215.33, intended to pay for capital improvements and general maintenance at the Evergreen Cemetery in Priest River. That would amount to an increase of $1.62 per $100,000 of taxable assessed value, for a total of $4 per $100,000 per year.

• In the city of Ponderay, residents will be asked to weigh in on a 10% local option tax applied to short-term rentals such as hotel/motel rooms, condominium units, tourist homes, bed-and-breakfasts, and similar temporary dwellings of 30 days or fewer.

The tax 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.

• Northside Fire is asking for $1,898,933 from property taxpayers beginning with Fiscal Year 2026 to cover costs of staffing, including at the Samuels Fire Station; hiring additional firefighters/EMTs; equipment and maintenance; and providing general services such as fire protection and lifesaving. According to the ballot language, the permanent levy would represent an increase of $1,245,812 from the current $653,121 — amounting to a tax bump of $41 per $100,000 of taxable assessed value for a total of $61 per $100,000 per year.

• Westside Fire is seeking to permanently increase its budget from the current levy amount of $577,461 to $1,387,819 (a difference of $810,358) beginning FY2025-’26 and to be set as the base budget to pay for current staffing and new hires, equipment and maintenance, and general operations. Specifically, the ballot language states that new dollars would be applied to increasing the number of firefighters/EMTs from one per day to three on shift per day — up from three-full time employees to nine. The increase would be $71 per $100,000 of assessed value per year, for a total of $122 per $100,000.

• In Sagle, the fire district is asking voters to approve a permanent levy increase to $2,623,470 from $1,873,470, for a total override of $750,000. As with the other districts, funds would go toward staffing, hiring, equipment and maintenance, and the purchase of new apparatus. In particular, Sagle Fire wants to provide a minimum of two firefighter/EMTs at the Careywood and Sagle stations. The overall tax increase would be $34 per $100,000 of assessed value, for a total of $122 per year per $100,000.

• The Spirit Lake Fire District is proposing a temporary budget increase, levying property taxes amounting to $477,000 beginning in FY’26 and lasting for two years to maintain and increase staffing, equipment and maintenance, and purchasing and maintaining vehicles and facilities. The estimated cost to taxpayers would be $24.66 per $100,000 of assessed value. 

• Residents in the Lakeland School District in the far southern portion of Bonner County are being asked to consider a supplemental levy of $7,520,000 per year for two years beginning July 1 and ending June 30, 2027, intended to support co-curricular and athletics, safety and security programs, transportation, funding for 25 teacher positions, maintaining advanced learning programs at elementary schools and maintaining student access to the Kootenai Technical Education Campus in Rathdrum. The estimated average annual taxpayer cost would be $82.37 per $100,000 of assessed value per year.

What’s not on the ballot

• Local politics watchers were likely aware of two impending vacancies on the East Bonner County Library Board of Trustees, with terms ending for Judy Meyers and Joan Terrell in May. Elections for those seats would have been on the May 20 ballot, but only two candidates filed to run, making the election moot.

Rosedale, who runs Bonner County elections, said that Idaho Code 33-2717 stipulates that if only one regular or write-in candidate files to run for an open seat, no election will be held. 

“It worked out that the East Bonner County Library had the right amount of applicants to fill the slots and therefore, by law, the clerk was not allowed to do the election because none was needed,” Rosedale said.

Susan Drinkard and Vicki Reich were the sole candidates to file for the open EBCL Library Board seats and, under I.C. 33-2717, will be declared elected no later than seven days before the scheduled date of the election.

(Disclosure: Reich is the stepmother of Reader Editor-in-Chief Zach Hagadone.)

“We just have to ‘declare elected’ the incoming trustees at our next board meeting on the 12th of May, which just so happens to be one week before the election,” EBCL Director Vanessa Velez told the Reader.

In other words, no matter where you live in the county, there won’t be an EBCL trustee election on your ballot, despite there having been two open seats.

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