A group that works with farmers and property owners to clean up the environment is proposing a new $5 tax on almost every property in Snohomish County.
The Snohomish Conservation District is proposing the fee expecting to collect about $1 million a year from 202,000 properties.
The district runs programs to restore the health of streams and replace clogged culverts for better fish migration. The group also teaches backyard conservation and works with farmers on voluntary plans that manage manure and grazing.
A $5 fee is a fairly small price to ask for work to help sustain farming and protect clean water in rivers and Puget Sound, said Monte Marti, vice chairman of the Snohomish Conservation District Board of Supervisors.
“We have a program that’s in demand and currently underfunded,” he said.
The soonest property owners would pay is 2009. The last batch of public meetings on the fee is planned Tuesday in Lake Stevens and next week in Stanwood.
The proposal is expected to reach the County Council for more debate next month.
County Council chairman Dave Somers is leaning toward approving the $5 charge but wants to know how much support the fee has across the county.
“I’m really supportive of the conservation district,” he said. “This will be a fairly major step.”
The district was created in 1941 to help with natural resources in the county. Camano Island joined in 1961.
The conservation district’s idea of charging a $5 fee has lingered for more than a year while details were worked out.
Conservation district officials first floated the idea in 2006 when the county threatened to cut $110,000 in funding for the district. A separately collected tax would be a more stable source of funding than going to the county each year, Marti said.
Since then, county officials gave the district $175,000 a year, as well as $315,000 in storm-water fees, but asked for plans to wean the district from county coffers.
About three-quarters of the properties in Snohomish County are affected by the fee proposal. A proposal to also charge the fee on Camano Island is in the works.
The cores of the oldest cities in the county are not included in the district or in the proposed tax increase. Property owned by American Indian tribes won’t be charged the new fee. And it won’t be charged on properties that pay a county fee for the StillaÂguamish Clean Water District.
State law allows the fee to be collected on property tax bills. King County assesses $10 per property. Other counties charge $5 per property, and some add a per-acre charge.
With the fee, and with the shifting of county money, the district’s total budget would stay about $1.3 million, plus any state grants it may win. Over time, the budget has grown an average 12 percent each year for the past 12 years. The district has 13 employees.
The district has already started planning how some of the additional tax money from the proposed fee would be spent.
One idea is to hire an urban liaison to work with cities on stricter storm-water rules required by the state, in addition to helping promote a county program that steers future development away from farms and into cities.
“We want to keep the rural landscape rural and something everybody can enjoy, whether they are living in the county or in the city,” Marti said.
Reporter Jeff Switzer: 425-339-3452 or jswitzer@heraldnet.com.
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