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PORT ANGELES – Clallam County commissioners will take another look at a tax proposal to set up a conservation futures fund.

Commissioners will talk about it at a work session Monday after taking no action on a proposed ordinance setting up the fund this week.

Commissioners heard nearly 90 minutes of testimony about the proposal that would add a new property tax to fund preservation of farmlands and other open spaces.

Commissioner Randy Johnson says they learned the ordinance needs more tweaks.

 

“Other people said, you know, it’s too broad to conservation futures in particular. We like the idea of saving farmland, but you know, I don’t want to save the rocks up in the wilderness. A couple other viewpoints that I hadn’t thought about the fact that you start at 2 and 3/4 cents per thousand. It was pointed out by two people who testified and also by our assessor, that it isn’t necessarily fixed and they were saying, you know, if we step up and do this, I don’t want to turn around and only have it increase.”

Johnson says they will put more specific language in the next proposal to address those concerns.

Under the current proposal, the county would add a two and three quarters cents tax per thousand of assessed valuation. It would mean about seven dollars on a 200-thousand-dollar house.

Commissioner Bill Peach says he thinks the new tax may cause “tax-priority” issues with has many constituents.

“And people are concerned about additional things like schools. And so a lot of people would rather have the opportunity to support, you know, fundamentals like education as opposed to ‘very nice to have but less essential’. I think that it’s a countywide benefit it really is, and my issue isn’t whether it’s a worthy project. My issue is the people that are on a fixed income, can they afford it.”

If approved, the tax would bring in about $250,000 a year. Supporters say it could be used to leverage other money to buy conservation futures and especially protect farmland across the county.

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