CAMANO ISLAND – In 1995, a mosquito population boom caused residents to dive for cover.
“It was like they were growing in your front grass,” said Grant Lawrence of Camano Island. “During the day, people had to run to their cars. The golf course had to close for a couple of days. Real estate companies were going bananas – there was nobody to show houses.”
That year, residents approved formation of Camano Island Mosquito Control District No. 1. Property taxes generated for the district were used to pay for larvacide pellets, which were placed in the most prolific breeding grounds. The district covers the north central part of the island.
Lawrence, now the district’s volunteer president, blames the 1995 outbreak on a levee that broke during a high-tide storm in the 1980s. A farm pasture was flooded, turning it into a wetland that over time became an ideal mosquito nursery.
Lawrence said efforts to repair the levee were frustrated by environmental rules protecting wetlands.
“A wetland is great, when it drains and flushes,” Lawrence said. “When it doesn’t, it creates a mess.”
Unable to drain the bog, the district opted for the larvacide, which kills the larva of mosquitoes and black flies.
The district’s original tax assessment was 25 cents per $1,000 of assessed valuation, but that dropped to 17 cents in later years.
“We just aren’t having to treat as much,” Lawrence said.
The bond again is up for renewal , and the assessment again is 17 cents. That would cost the owner of a $300,000 home about $51 a year.
The money raised should cover the district’s needs for the next three or four years, he said. It usually spends about $8,000 to $10,000 a year.
Lawrence considered the district’s work successful.
“In the last nine years, we’ve pretty much got them under control,” he said.
Reporter Scott Morris: 425-339-3292 or smorris@heraldnet.com.
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