Conservation tax opinions sought

County commissioners are looking for a few articulate people with opinions about the Conservation Futures tax that allows the county to acquire and preserve environmentally sensitive land.

They need to form two committees of no more than three members each to write voters pamphlet statements for and against the tax. The statements will be for an advisory measure that commissioners plan to put on the November general election ballot.

The measure will ask voters whether commissioners should re-enact the tax on a permanent basis when it expires at the end of the year.

Commissioners first imposed the tax – 6 cents per $1,000 of assessed value – in 1997, for three years.

They reinstated the tax for five-year periods in 1997 and 2002 after getting voter support in advisory ballots.

The money, supplemented with $4.2 million worth of grants, has been used to purchase 4,296 acres of undeveloped land as natural buffers to urban areas and passive recreation areas.

People who want to serve on the voters pamphlet committees are asked to send letters stating their position.

Letters, which must arrive by Monday, may be e-mailed to kcondon@spokanecounty.org or mailed to: Spokane County Board of Commissioners, 1116 W. Broadway Ave., Spokane, WA 99260.

For more information, call Kristin Condon at (509) 477-2265.