Elmore County voters will decide in a special election on November 4 whether to pass new local taxes and fees.
The additional revenue from the taxes and fees will go to county fire service improvements and a new jail, according to Elmore County.
Elmore County Commission Chairman Bart Mercer told a recent meeting of the Republican Women of Elmore County, "We just need some additional funds to continue like we've been going."
"Here's the reality of it: if we don't approve the two assessments in November, our fire departments will not get any more money. What could that look like? If they stop having the equipment that they need, they can no longer respond to fire calls like they want to respond to," Mercer said. "ISO comes in and gives them another fire protection classification, your insurance rates go up a whole lot more than $150 per year, I can assure you. We have a situation where we do have firefighters respond to calls, and they don't have proper equipment. That's an issue. We've got to do something about our jail. We don't have a choice there."
Parts of the Enhance Elmore plan were passed by the Legislature during the 2025 session, including a "levelized" sales tax rate of 9.5% and a $25 vehicle tag fee increase.
If passed, a local constitutional amendment on the ballot on November 4 would levy a 4.5% countywide tax increase on the wholesale purchase of tobacco and vape products. Under the amendment, Elmore County property owners would also be required to pay a $300 assessment fee for commercial property, a $150 assessment fee for residential property, and a $25 assessment for land-only parcels.
A Facebook group named "Resist Tax Hike - Elmore County" opposes Enhance Elmore and has nearly 1,000 members.
Kenny Holt, a lifelong Elmore County resident and former county commissioner, told 1819 News the proposed assessments are regressive taxes.
"It's an assessment. It goes on and it never comes off. Let's take the residential assessment is going to be $150, the commercial is going to be $300, (and) the land is going to be $25. All of these are regressive taxes," Holt said. The ballot doesn't explain to the citizen what they're voting on. It says nothing about dollars or percentages. It starts out with it's a vaping tax and an alternative nicotine tax. The part about the property doesn't say anything except the distribution of proceeds from the assessments will go to Enhance Elmore County funds. It doesn't say anything about how much they are or anything, none of that."
Holt continued, "They went through the Legislature and passed a 4.5% sales tax and a 4.5% tax on rental items…plus a $25 a year tag fee per year. All of those things were done legally, but without the vote of the citizens. I have an issue with that. I'll correlate that with what we just said."
"I don't have any confidence that this has been dispersed out in any type of written form where the citizens know what they're voting for," Holt said.
Scott Whetstone, an Elmore County citizen, told 1819 News he also plans to vote against the measure.
"They took our right to vote for Superintendent of Education away several years ago. What's happening is our commission is getting a little out of hand, thinking that they can just do whatever they want without the people's input, so this is a good time to fight back and show them that we, the people, are the ones who make the decisions in this county. Just because we vote you in doesn't mean that you just go and do what you want to do," Whetstone said.
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