Property Tax Ballot Goes For Parkland

More land should be off-limits to development, Spokane County voters decided Tuesday.

And they’re willing to pay to see that it is.

The same voters who rejected a gas tax to fix roads supported a property tax to buy parkland that can’t be developed. With 27 percent of precincts reporting, the conservations futures tax had 56 percent support.

The tax was imposed by county commissioners in 1993. Since then, the county has collected about $3.6 million and spent $1.7 million.

The purchases include 507 acres in four parcels across the county. They include a grove of cedar trees, remote shoreline on Long Lake, a migration corridor for urban deer and 2 acres near Riverside State Park.

Among the parcels the county hopes to buy with the tax is 820 acres near the Dishman Hills Natural Area. The county parks advisory committee judges potential purchases and makes recommendations to commissioners.

The tax costs landowners 6 cents for every $1,000 in assessed value, or $6 a year for the owner of a $100,000 home.

, DataTimes