{"id":22882,"date":"2025-10-15T00:41:58","date_gmt":"2025-10-15T06:41:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/?p=22882"},"modified":"2025-10-14T18:44:21","modified_gmt":"2025-10-15T00:44:21","slug":"bcrd-seeks-levy-for-sustainable-future","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/2025\/10\/15\/bcrd-seeks-levy-for-sustainable-future\/","title":{"rendered":"BCRD Seeks Levy For \u2018Sustainable\u2019 Future"},"content":{"rendered":"

Surveys Point To Surging Demand For Indoor Facilities, Trail Enhancements, District Says<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

BY MARK DEE<\/em>
\nAfter 50 years on the job, the Blaine County Recreation District is asking voters for a raise.
\nThe BCRD is seeking an additional $3 million annual levy this November, a move that would nearly triple taxpayer support for an agency that has operated off the same levy since its founding in 1976.
\n\u201cIn that time, the services we\u2019ve given the community haven\u2019t shrunk, they\u2019ve grown\u2014by a lot. And the community has grown\u2014by a lot,\u201d said BCRD Executive Director Mark Davidson. \u201cThis is a moment in time to not only celebrate 50 years, but to look ahead at opportunities. The only way to do that is by adding money through a levy.\u201d
\nAs it stands, about a third of the BCRD\u2019s budget comes from its foundational tax levy. The district charges $7.81 per $100,000 in taxable value. The proposed permanent override levy would add another $13.34 per $100,000 to that for a total of $21.15 per $100,000. For an $875,000 property\u2014roughly the median assessed value across Blaine County\u2014the proposal would add $116.47 in new taxes, bringing the total paid to the BCRD to $182.82 per year, according to the BCRD\u2019s own levy calculator. (You can find your cost online at bcrd.org\/levy.)
\nThe levy would help the BCRD \u201cmeet current and future demand for recreational facilities and services,\u201d the ballot language states, focusing on:
\n\u2022 Summer and winter trail improvements, repairs, and
\ninfrastructure, like bathrooms, parking and grooming.
\n\u2022 Galena Lodge upgrades and infrastructure.
\nQuigley Trails Park.
\n\u2022 Sports fields and infrastructure, including construction of
\nmulti-use facilities usable year-round.
\n\u2022 Staffing, equipment, and maintenance of BCRD facilities.
\nThese priorities came from a suite of community surveys, said BCRD Executive Director Mark Davidson. The takeaway: Most people wanted more, not less. And the ideas that garnered the most excitement\u2014particularly indoor facilities for team sports and winter pickleball\u2014will require serious capital. The new levy would provide a \u201cconsistency of funding\u201d that the BCRD could leverage to finance multi-million-dollar projects while still maintaining what it already does.
\nThe amount, according to BCRD Board Chairman Mat Hall, would allow the BCRD to expand without going back to voters on a project-by-project basis.
\nTo Hall, the BCRD has been good at \u201cbootstrapping\u201d much of what it does. It rents offices and shop space for its groomers.
\n\u201cWe could lose that tomorrow,\u201d he said. \u201cAll the programs that the BCRD delivers that people love\u2014we have a lot of infrastructure behind that.
\n\u201cI think this levy is going to help us really grow the roots in the community that we\u2019re going to need for the next 50 years.\u201d
\nBoth Hall and Davidson describe the ballot question as a \u201cproactive\u201d levy. Bolstered by program fees and donations, the BCRD\u2019s budget is balanced, they said. But raising program fees risks pricing out families, and donations fluctuate year to year, the district states. Without additional taxpayer support, they said the district would face tough choices as to what it can support.
\n\u201cWe\u2019re trying to ensure that we have the long-term sustainability we need to meet the needs of our next generations,\u201d Davidson said.
\nAs a permanent override levy, the ballot measure needs a supermajority to pass: 66.67%. Early and absentee voting runs from Oct. 14\u201331 at the Blaine County Courthouse in Hailey. Election Day is Nov. 4.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Surveys Point To Surging Demand For Indoor Facilities, Trail Enhancements, District Says BY MARK DEE After 50 years on the job, the Blaine County Recreation District is asking voters for a raise. The BCRD is seeking an additional $3 million annual levy this November, a move that would nearly triple taxpayer support for an agency […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":479,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","_pvb_checkbox_block_on_post":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[65,72,18,28],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-22882","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-blaine-county","7":"category-community","8":"category-news","9":"category-recreation"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22882","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/479"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22882"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22882\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":22883,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22882\/revisions\/22883"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22882"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22882"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22882"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}