County Keeps Tax For Now Voters To Decide In ‘97 Whether Conservation Tax Will Be Permanent

After three years of trying to repeal a tax used to prevent development of some environmentally sensitive lands, Spokane County Commissioner Steve Hasson stunned an audience Tuesday night by voting to collect the money one more year.

What’s more, he and Commissioner John Roskelley were joined by Commissioner Phil Harris.

A crowd of about 60 tax supporters jeered Harris at times during a two-hour hearing on the conservation futures tax, assuming he was going to vote “no.”

“I can’t believe I did that,” a beaming Harris said after the vote. “I wouldn’t have done it if I didn’t think it was good for everybody. I’m not intimidated by a crowd.”

Collected since 1994, the tax is used to buy land and keep it natural. The tax costs taxpayers 6 cents for every $1,000 of assessed valuation; that’s $9 a year for a $150,000 home.

In three years, the county has collected nearly $2.6 million and spent $1.66 million, buying nearly 500 acres in four parcels - at Liberty Lake, on the south shore of Long Lake, adjacent to Downriver Golf Course and next to Palisades Park in west Spokane.

Tuesday’s action means the tax, which was set to expire Dec. 31, will continue through 1997. Voters will decide in September or November whether it will become permanent.

In 1992, Hasson signed a pledge not to impose taxes that aren’t approved by voters. He opposed the conservation tax when former Commissioners Skip Chilberg and Pat Mummey adopted it the following year.

Hasson tried to convince Harris to repeal the tax in 1994. Instead, Harris promised to let it die at the end of this year.

Both Harris and Hasson repeatedly have said they support the tax but believe it should not be used without public approval. Both say they believe the public will vote to continue it.

Hasson said he voted to extend the tax because “I’ve heard from several hundred persons” who support the tax and no one who doesn’t.

“For those of you out there who do oppose this tax, I want to say, ‘You snooze, you lose,”’ Hasson said during the televised hearing.

There were, however, four people out of about 30 who testified Tuesday who said the county should stop collecting the tax until after it’s put to a vote.

Three of them said state law should be changed so the county can use the tax to develop playgrounds and other amenities on the land it buys. Instead, the land is protected for wildlife habitat and other natural uses.

“If you buy (land) and can’t develop it, what’s the point,” said Suzanne Knapp of the Spokane Home Builders Association.

Knapp objected to county parks manager Wynn Birkenthal’s characterization of the land bought with the money as being “threatened” by development.

“What a loaded statement,” she said. “Development isn’t a sin.”

Among the groups that sent representatives to support the tax were the city and county parks boards, the Sierra Club, the Spokane Canoe and Kayak Club, Backcountry Horsemen, The Mountaineers and Washington Water Power Co.

WWP helped the county buy the biggest of four parcels purchased with money from the tax: 400 acres on the south side of Long Lake.

Harris drew jeers when he balked at Roskelley’s request that letters supporting the tax be made part of the record for Tuesday’s meeting.

“I love form letters,” he said, sarcastically. “I also love the 400,000 people who aren’t represented here tonight.”

After Hasson said he supported the tax extension, Harris called for a roll-call vote, normally a sign that he doesn’t agree with a motion. After a moment of stunned silence, people in the audience applauded after Harris voted yes.

, DataTimes