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Meridian and Boise School Levies Pass
March 14, 2012 
Both Boise and Meridian School Levies were approved by voters Tuesday.
While GUARDIAN readers were upset about the obvious “sales language” of the Boise ballot, we have to conclude it was only one factor in an overwhelming victory for the voter-approved tax hike. Having the boss provide absentee ballot applications to teachers whose jobs could be on the line probably helped as well in the Boise District. No doubt about it, Boise has a well oiled grassroots political machine in operation.
Here are the final results:
Boise: 5-year, $70 million levy YES: 20,373 (71.36%) NO: 8,177 (28.64%)
Meridian: 2-year, $28 million levy:YES: 12,245 (53.69%) NO:10,562 (46.31%)
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Comments & Discussion
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Mar 14, 2012, 11:09 am
Yay!!!
Mar 14, 2012, 11:10 am
Pleased to see that the residents of Ada County were willing to stand up for the public schools and vote yes. While I am more than a little upset about the reason these needed to pass, namely legislative inaction, I am happy that voters did the right thing.
Mar 14, 2012, 1:28 pm
I am still fuzzy on why the State Legislature is giving a $35MM tax cut to the already wealthy and corporations and not handing this over to schools who really do need this cash.
Mar 14, 2012, 2:05 pm
I agree with Branden. I held my nose and voted yes even though I felt like a republican tool. Risch and the Idaho legistards engineered this for their own political ends. Meanwhile, big corporations, hospitals, ccdc, churches etc. pay no or very little in taxes. The very poor communities will suffer even more as rich communities sustain their schools. The urban/ rural divide grows even larger in this state.
Love it when Micron belly aches about how much they need educated workers but are so unwilling to pay for education in the form of taxes.
Mar 14, 2012, 2:10 pm
Paul – I have wondered the exact same thing.
Mar 14, 2012, 4:21 pm
I’m a former commercial property owner in Boise. In the twenty years I owned commercial property in Boise my property taxes went up roughly 400%. Rents I was able to charge during the same period went up roughly 40-50%. That is a tax increase of $10 for every $1 rent increase. Local government has been funded in the last 20 years via confiscation of private property.
Going forward property values will fall in response to tax increases. When valuing real estate for a potential purchase, a buyer will become more aware of the unsustainable nature of tax increases and will be forced to discount into the future further agressive confiscation by greedy self serving government agencies.
Enjoy the gravy train while it lasts.
Mar 14, 2012, 5:38 pm
Tax cuts to wealthy corporations the problem? You have got to be kidding me! I own a home in Boise roughly worth the same as a property for which I have a business leasing. The property taxes on my business are more than 3 times that of my home. In addition to my property tax, I pay another property tax for all the equipment and value of the interior improvements I made to the restaurant down to the pots and pans, additionally I pay an inventory tax on the average daily inventory of the food stuffs I stock. My phone, gas, water, sewer, telephone all cost more for being a business customer versus residential, due in large to government regulation of these utilities and government rate setting. Those taxes all combined were far greater than the net income I received as the at-risk owner. In short, add income tax, property tax, and all other taxes on my business, and more than 70% of would-be net income goes to government. People complain about corporate greed on wall street, at least businesses are open about their profit motive, government is even more greedy, has no competition to keep them in check and hides their greed in the shadows of needy programs. We have a government system that measures its success by revenue accumulation for new laws, and government programs. We should be measuring the effectiveness of government by the removal of laws, facilitation of liberties, and enrichment of the citizenry.
Mar 14, 2012, 6:53 pm
Hey JJ, how can you be so cruel in your comments.
This was for the chhhhillllldrrren. They are our future you know.
Mar 14, 2012, 7:23 pm
This is another tax increase that will never go away. You cannot fund salaries and other noncapital projects with temporary bond issues.
Get ready for another (or multiple) bond issues over the next 3-5 years.
Mar 14, 2012, 8:33 pm
Bagholder, I have no doubt that your profit margins were reduced, but you can’t equate percentages of unequal amounts directly to dollar ratios. A 400 percent increase in property tax vs a 40 percent increase in rental rates does not equal a 10 to 1 dollar ratio (unless your rents and property amounts were the same dollar value, which they obviously weren’t).
Oh, and I agree Branden Durst. It should have never come to a levy but that’s what you get with Otter and co.
Mar 14, 2012, 10:56 pm
Pittman: ‘Oh, and I agree Branden Durst. It should have never come to a levy but that’s what you get with Otter and co.’
Come on, it’s not just Otter & Co!! It’s the ignoramuses who keep on smugly returning to the Leg. the very idiots that refuse to fund education in the first place, who elect people like Labrador and the rest of the brilliants of this state.
Mar 15, 2012, 6:44 am
I’m just amazed! Every one wants lower taxes. Then they vote in a raise. Helping the kids? What a scam!
Mar 15, 2012, 10:35 am
This levy is unjust for those that do NOT have children and already support the school system. The kids will NOT beneifit from the extra money. The school officials WILL. Wake up people!
Mar 15, 2012, 4:14 pm
Mr. JJ, you forgot to mention how government also borrows trillions to fund our wars and maintain military bases all over the world so you can be free to eeke out a living.
The Republicans in Idaho are too limp to get rid of the personal property tax. The reason we keep getting the same shaft for small business is the legistards you keep electing really don’t care about you.
Haven’t you figured it out that our problems all stem from abortion, access to contraceptives, wolves and gays?