Land Conservation Tax Moving Toward Public Vote

A decision by county commissioners to place the conservation futures tax on the ballot guarantees community debate over government’s role in land conservation.

County Commissioners Phil Harris and Steve Hasson say the public needs to vote on the tax, and they are moving toward placing the matter on the ballot this fall, although a date has not yet been set.

Harris says the tax is nice if people want it, but the government should not be spending money on luxuries without voter approval. Conservation land and parks fall into that category, he maintains.

Hasson voted against the tax but has expressed his support for the purchases. As a commissioner, however, he wants to give the public a vote.

Supporters of the tax are ready to defend it and say their biggest assets are the areas themselves and those who use them.

The county parks advisory committee has compiled a list of 15 priority purchases for the tax, which will raise $900,000 in 1995. But because of the expense, only a few can be bought each year.

The top priorities are Big Rock, a 760-acre parcel east of Tower Mountain, and a 400-acre Lake Spokane piece owned by the McLellan family.

Each of those purchases, even with matching state money, could use up an entire year’s allotment of the tax.

Other potential purchases include longsought critical areas along the Little Spokane River, Owens Lake (on the back side of Bear Lake County Park), and a piece of property in Gleneden that could eventually serve as a park.

Advocates also will point to what already has been purchased.

The first buy was an 84-acre area of oldgrowth cedar adjoining Liberty Lake County Park. That parcel, for which the county paid $240,000, was scheduled to be logged, and residents had tried for years to find money so that property could be purchased and protected by the county.

The day after commissioners approved the tax, the county entered into a purchase agreement.

“We worked for two years to find some public source of money,” said Beth Ann Harper, a Veradale resident and member of the Sierra Club. “We were hoping it would go through, and it did. That’s how we got the land.”

The county also spent $75,000 for eight acres adjacent to Palisades Park. Again, the area was being sought by developers, and the purchase protects a wildlife corridor while ensuring a scenic view from downtown.

The tax was approved by a 2-to-1 vote, with Commissioners Skip Chilberg and Pat Mummey in support. The cost of the tax to property owners is 6 cents per $1,000 of valuation, or $6 annually on a $100,000 home.

Both Mummey and Chilberg said they were reacting to neighborhood groups in Liberty Lake and Gleneden who were demanding the county do something to protect wildlife habitats from development.

One of the ironies of the tax is that the first two purchases - and the next two - are in the commissioner districts served by Harris and Hasson.

In fact, Harris lives less than a half-mile from the McLellan land, which is in a remote area of the county not even protected by a fire district.