CANYON COUNTY, Idaho — Canyon County Paramedics are concerned after their override levy failed which would help fund staff and help on maintenance. With the growing population, this failed second attempt may result in slower response times and fewer paramedics.
- The second failed attempt on the override levy after lowering for $ 8 million to $ 5.825 million.
- The failure can result in fewer paramedics and slower response time.
- The Department has not decided yet if they will try again in the next election.
(Below is the transcript from the broadcast story)
"We need more ambulances, not fewer," said Canyon County Ambulance District Chief Michael Stowell.
Canyon County paramedics are concerned after initial election results show the majority of Canyon County voters said no to their $5.8 million override levy — an effort to increase staff and catch up on maintenance.
Their original request in May was for $8 million and thought that by lowering the request, it'd have a better chance of passing.
"There was a lot of yes votes, we had a lot of positive support leading up to the election. Obviously, we just did not have enough to get us to that super majority which is a hard bar to reach," said Chief Stowell
The levy needed support from two-thirds of voters but only got "Yes" votes from about 40 percent.
While the board hasn't decided on whether they will try again next May, Chief Michael Stowell tells me the need isn't going anywhere.
"We chose not to fill 4 vacant positions in order to meet our budget, but then we continue to also lose people," said Chief Stowell.
While some turnover is normal, Chief Stowell says lately, it's been higher than usual.
This results in less staff to fill ambulances, which can impact patients in need of emergency medical care.
"There are times where we literally run out there are no ambulances available for the next call because they are already on a call. This is actually happening and it's not just once a month it's several times that we are shutting vehicles down," said Chief Stowell
With two failed levy attempts, the chief tells me that even if a May 2025 levy passes, they wouldn't see that funding until January 2026 and with continued growth, he is growing concerned for community members.
"The growth is here and it's not stopping we can all see the growth continuing which means our call volume is gonna go up and if we are not adding units or we are not staffing units that we currently have that means longer response time," said Chief Stowell.
