AN ACT
Relating to conservation districts; and amending RCW 89.08.400.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE
OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:
Sec.
1. RCW
89.08.400 and 1989 c 18 s 1 are each amended to read as follows:
(1)
Special assessments are authorized to be imposed for conservation districts as
provided in this section. Activities and programs to conserve natural resources,
including soil and water, are declared to be of special benefit to lands and
may be used as the basis upon which special assessments are imposed.
(2)
Special assessments to finance the activities of a conservation district may be
imposed by the county legislative authority of the county in which the
conservation district is located for a period or periods each not to exceed
ten years in duration.
The
supervisors of a conservation district shall hold a public hearing on a
proposed system of assessments prior to the first day of August in the year
prior to which it is proposed that the initial special assessments be
collected. At that public hearing, the supervisors shall gather information
and shall alter the proposed system of assessments when appropriate,
including the number of years during which it is proposed that the special
assessments be imposed.
On or
before the first day of August in that year, the supervisors of a
conservation district ((who are proposing to have special assessments
imposed for the district in the following year)) shall file the proposed
system of assessments, indicating the years during which it is proposed that
the special assessments shall be imposed, and a proposed budget for the
succeeding year with the county legislative authority of the county within
which the conservation district is located. The county legislative authority
shall hold a public hearing on the proposed system of assessments. After the
hearing, the county legislative authority may accept, or modify and accept, the
proposed system of assessments, including the number of years during which
the special assessments shall be imposed, if it finds that both the public
interest will be served by the imposition of the special assessments and that
the special assessments to be imposed on any land will not exceed the special
benefit that the land receives or will receive from the activities of the
conservation district. The findings of the county legislative authority shall
be final and conclusive. Special assessments may be altered during this
period on individual parcels in accordance with the system of assessments if
land is divided or land uses or other factors change.
Notice
of the public hearings held by the supervisors and the county legislative
authority shall be posted conspicuously in at least five places throughout the
conservation district, and published once a week for two consecutive weeks in a
newspaper in general circulation throughout the conservation district, with the
date of the last publication at least five days prior to the public hearing.
(3) A
system of assessments shall classify lands in the conservation district into
suitable classifications according to benefits conferred or to be conferred by
the activities of the conservation district, determine an annual per acre rate
of assessment for each classification of land, and indicate the total amount of
special assessments proposed to be obtained from each classification of lands.
Lands deemed not to receive benefit from the activities of the conservation
district shall be placed into a separate classification and shall not be
subject to the special assessments. An annual assessment rate shall be stated
as either uniform annual per acre amount, or an annual flat rate per parcel
plus a uniform annual rate per acre amount, for each classification of land.
The maximum annual per acre special assessment rate shall not exceed ten cents
per acre. The maximum annual per parcel rate shall not exceed five dollars.
Public
land, including lands owned or held by the state, shall be subject to special
assessments to the same extent as privately owned lands. The procedures
provided in chapter 79.44 RCW shall be followed if lands owned or held by the
state are subject to the special assessments of a conservation district.
Forest
lands used solely for the planting, growing, or harvesting of trees may be
subject to special assessments if such lands benefit from the activities of the
conservation district, but the per acre rate of special assessment on benefited
forest lands shall not exceed one-tenth of the weighted average per acre
assessment on all other lands within the conservation district that are subject
to its special assessments. The calculation of the weighted average per acre
special assessment shall be a ratio calculated as follows: (a) The numerator
shall be the total amount of money estimated to be derived from the imposition
of per acre special assessments on the nonforest lands in the conservation
district; and (b) the denominator shall be the total number of nonforest land
acres in the conservation district that receive benefit from the activities of
the conservation district and which are subject to the special assessments of
the conservation district. No more than ten thousand acres of such forest
lands that is both owned by the same person or entity and is located in the
same conservation district may be subject to the special assessments that are
imposed for that conservation district in any year. Per parcel charges shall
not be imposed on forest land parcels. However, in lieu of a per parcel
charge, a charge of up to three dollars per forest landowner may be imposed on
each owner of forest lands whose forest lands are subject to a per acre rate of
assessment.
(4) A
conservation district shall prepare an assessment roll that implements the
system of assessments approved by the county legislative authority. The
special assessments from the assessment roll shall be spread by the county
assessor as a separate item on the tax rolls and shall be collected and
accounted for with property taxes by the county treasurer. The amount of a
special assessment shall constitute a lien against the land that shall be
subject to the same conditions as a tax lien, collected by the treasurer in the
same manner as delinquent real property taxes, and subject to the same interest
rate and penalty as for delinquent property taxes. The county treasurer shall
deduct an amount from the collected special assessments, as established by the
county legislative authority, to cover the costs incurred by the county
assessor and county treasurer in spreading and collecting the special
assessments, but not to exceed the actual costs of such work.
(5)
The special assessments for a conservation district shall not be spread on the
tax rolls and shall not be collected with property tax collections in the
following year if, after the system of assessments has been approved by the
county legislative authority but prior to the fifteenth day of December in that
year, a petition has been filed with the county legislative authority objecting
to the imposition of such special assessments, which petition has been signed
by at least twenty percent of the owners of land that would be subject to the
special assessments to be imposed for a conservation district.
