As Boise voters fill in their ballots on Election Day, Nov. 4, one proposal will be in contention: the Clean Water and Open Space Levy.
The levy, introduced by the Boise City Council on July 15, will collect a special tax intended for land acquisitions across the city, continuing two previous iterations established in 2001 and 2015.
If approved, the total sum of $11 million will be collected via increased property taxes over the next two years to continue work enacted through previous iterations of the levy, including wildfire risk reduction, buying and developing new parks and preserving open space.
“This particular levy is a combination of both the 2001 language and the 2015 [levy],” Doug Holloway, director of Boise Parks and Recreation, said. “It’s acquisition, it is clean water projects, which is what was in the 2015 levy, but it also adds fire mitigation opportunities as well.”
The initiative requires a simple majority of votes, more than 50 percent, for collection to begin. It would be funded through a rise in property taxes of $9.89 per $100,000 of taxable assessed home value, meaning it would cost the average homeowner around $40 each year, according to the levy website.
Holloway said the city had $1.3 million left from the levy created in 2015, making the 2025 ballot an opportunity to reintroduce the proposal.
“$1.3 million is pretty much down to a project, maybe a couple of acquisitions, and then that funding would be dissipated,” Holloway added. “That’s [when] the mayor and council looked at the timing, that it is an opportunity to go back to the residents and say, ‘our funding is becoming very limited’.”
Currently, three projects outline Boise Parks and Recreation’s vision board: public pathways extending across the city limits, preservation of endangered species and parks within a 10 minute walk from any Boise household.
“The plans are in place, now we just need to execute them,” Holloway said.
Emily Wakild, the Andrus Center’s Chair for Environment and Public Lands, said the proposal might have a big impact on Boise’s ecology.
“The [Boise] river is a corridor in the spring and fall for wildlife coming down or going up into the foothills for food and sustenance,” she said. “Those two migration corridors are really important aspects of wildlife that provide the most intense biodiversity that the city has.”
“The space along the river that allows that to happen is super important for those populations, and it can be enhanced and supported by something like the levy,” she added.
Wakild also pointed to the 1970s Clean Water and Clean Air Acts as historical examples of similar policy. She argued that they both aim to make cities more livable.
“The levy can be viewed as part of that, it’s helping to enhance and protect clean air and clean water, which are things that need to be sustained by other living beings,” Wakild said. “Whether that’s sagebrush, ponderosa pine or there’s migrating elk and deer, if we provide the space for them to flourish, it helps us, in turn, also to flourish.”
Mary Anne Nelson, Surface and Wastewater Division Administrator at the Idaho Department of Environmental Quality, said the levy would also affect water conditions. The levy would target lands along the edges of rivers or other water bodies, known as riparian zones.
“From a surface water perspective, any project that will improve riparian habitat, or restore riparian habitat, is almost always going to have a beneficial impact to water quality,” she said.
Nelson noted that water-related projects from the 2015 iteration of the levy, such as the Boise River ReWild Project, acquired riparian zones to restore ecological functions in the Boise River. They had a beneficial impact on water quality.
These benefits stem from land around the river acting as a natural filter, keeping sediments and other pollutants out of the water, according to Nelson.
For student Zoe Fragkias, the levy also offers an opportunity for people to engage with environmentalism.
“Protecting public lands has far-reaching impacts,” Fragkias said. “Creating a pro-environment sentiment in your community is really effective and will lead to opportunities for more parks and open spaces.”
Fragkias majors in Environmental Studies and participates in Boise State’s Environmental Club.
“Idaho is uniquely positioned to advocate for public lands because recreation is so valuable to our economy,” Fragkias said. “No matter what your political alignment is, a lot of people are interested in this levy and happy to support it.”
