Twin Falls County voters approved a ballot measure Tuesday to create a permanent taxing district for insect abatement.

County commissioners created an emergency district last year in response to concerns about West Nile virus, covering only part of the county. Parks and Waterways officials spent about $170,000 on pest abatement between May 2006 and this fall.

The new district will expand on that, providing more funding and a separate board to oversee abatement work across the entire county.

The district will initially be funded with $442,000, or about $10.52 per $100,000 of taxable property value. It will be limited to the same 3 percent budget increases as other government entities.

The district will operate separately from the county, with its own employees and equipment. State code calls for a five-member board appointed by the commissioners, with the members serving staggered four-year terms. Board members will not be paid.

The district is largely intended to fight two pests - mosquitoes and black flies. Mosquitoes, of course, spread West Nile and other diseases. Swarms of black flies can spread vesicular stomatitis, a virus that can be deadly in cattle, and otherwise are a nuisance for low-flying aircraft and county residents. Twin Falls County livestock were quarantined in 1982 because of the disease, and the industry has been fighting to keep it out ever since.