Nampa voters turned down a permanent $5 million annual public safety levy, leaving the city's police department without new money for hiring, retention or a long-sought training facility. Unofficial results showed 11,041 votes against the measure, or 55.1%, compared to 8,981 votes in favor, or 44.9% — well short of the 60% supermajority the levy needed to pass.
Levy Fell Well Short of the 60% Bar
The measure needed at least 60% approval to take effect, according to the City of Nampa, a threshold tied to the state's rules for this kind of city levy under Idaho Statutes Title 63, Chapter 8. Polls closed Tuesday, and results were tallied at 11:25 p.m., almost three-and-a-half hours later, according to the Idaho Press. Had it passed, the city said the levy would have cost taxpayers $28.93 per $100,000 of taxable assessed value per year, based on current conditions, and collection would have begun with $5 million starting October 1, 2027.
Nampa Police Chief Joe Huff said he was disappointed with the result, per the same account, while a department spokesperson said the agency was pleased with voter turnout. Huff had spent the weeks before the vote trying to educate the public about staffing restraints facing the roughly 160-person department, saying residents did not want another tax and that the patrol division was lacking as Nampa continued to grow.
What the Money Would Have Bought
The levy was pitched as a way to fund additional police hiring, retain existing personnel and build a new training facility, the city said. The department currently uses Meridian Police Department's training facility, and Huff has said Nampa's growth is why the agency needs one of its own. The proposal called for 24 new patrol-unit positions — 16 officers and eight corporals who would have served as front-line supervisors — phased in over four years if approved.
Beyond new hires, the levy was also meant to let the department keep its specialized divisions, including school resource officers, narcotics officers and detective units, fully staffed. With the measure's defeat, the department plans to condense some smaller units and return officers to patrol instead. Huff had warned before the vote that he might have to pull personnel out of specialty assignments — traffic units, narcotics and detectives — and send them back to patrol duty, according to Idaho News.
Residents May Notice Slower Response
The department has said calls for service may receive a different response going forward as it makes decisions about how to allocate its limited staff, though it plans to keep officers available for emergency response and community safety. It remains unknown whether the city will put the levy before voters again, the department said.
The vote comes against a backdrop of strained staffing that earlier reporting from the Idaho Press laid out in detail: the department had 134 officers and a 42-officer shortfall. Patrol officers were responding to an average of 200 to 225 calls for service each day, that reporting found.
Chief Huff has also told KTVB that officers often work at minimum staffing levels, prioritize calls differently than in years past, and face slower response times — a dynamic compounded by an uptick in violent and property crime after a historic decline from 2018 through 2022. For fiscal year 2022, Nampa's starting police pay topped other Canyon County agencies but lagged behind departments across the border in Ada County, KTVB reported.
Not the Only Measure to Fall Short
Not the Only Measure to Fall Short Nampa's levy wasn't the only local measure to miss its mark in May 2024. A regional report from KIVI-TV found that multiple Canyon County bonds and levies requiring supermajority approval failed in that election, including a Canyon County Ambulance District levy seeking nearly $8 million for additional ambulances, EMTs and maintenance, which drew 59% support — short of the two-thirds majority required. Nampa's transportation bond, which would have funded traffic changes around Library Square, a merger of 11th and 12th Avenues, and intersection improvements near the Treasure Valley Marketplace, also failed in May 2024.
A separate accounting from BoiseDev had estimated the police levy would cost a home with $450,000 in taxable value $130.39 annually, a figure that differs from the city's own per-$100,000 rate; the discrepancy between the two estimates was not resolved before the vote. Either way, the outcome leaves Nampa's police department to manage its growth and staffing pressures without the new revenue it had sought.
