BILL REQ. #:  S-4184.1 

READ FIRST TIME 01/31/12.   

     AN ACT Relating to authorizing an optional system of rates and charges for conservation districts; and adding a new section to chapter 89.08 RCW.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 1   A new section is added to chapter 89.08 RCW to read as follows:
     (1) In order to implement the authority granted under this chapter, and as an alternative but not in addition to the system provided by RCW 89.08.400, a conservation district may provide for revenues by fixing rates and charges payable by the landowner of real estate for the furnishing of service to those served or receiving benefits or to be served or to receive benefits from the district. In fixing rates and charges, the conservation district may in its discretion consider:
     (a) Services furnished or to be furnished;
     (b) Benefits received or to be received;
     (c) The character and use of land or its water runoff characteristics;
     (d) The public benefit nonprofit status, as defined in RCW 24.03.490, of the land user;
     (e) The income level of persons served or provided benefits under this chapter, including senior citizens and disabled persons; or
     (f) Any other matters that present a reasonable difference as a ground for distinction.
     (2)(a) The maximum annual per acre rate or charge shall not exceed ten cents per acre. The maximum annual per parcel rate shall not exceed five dollars, except that for counties with a population of over one million five hundred thousand persons, the maximum annual per parcel rate shall not exceed ten dollars.
     (b) Public land, including lands owned or held by the state, are subject to rates and charges to the same extent as privately owned lands. The procedures in chapter 79.44 RCW shall be followed if lands owned or held by the state are subject to the rates and charges of a conservation district.
     (c) Forest lands used solely for the planting, growing, or harvesting of trees may be subject to rates and charges if the lands are served by the activities of the conservation district, but the per acre rate or charge on such forest lands shall not exceed one-tenth of the weighted average per acre rate or charge on all other lands within the conservation district that are subject to rates and charges. The calculation of the weighted average per acre shall be a ratio calculated as follows: (i) The numerator shall be the total amount of money estimated to be derived from the per acre special rates and charges on the nonforest lands in the conservation district; and (ii) the denominator shall be the total number of nonforest land acres in the conservation district that are served by the activities of the conservation district and that are subject to the rates or charges 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 rates and charges 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 or charge.
     (3) The consideration, adoption, implementation, and collection of a system of rates and charges shall follow the same public notice and hearing process and be subject to the same procedure and authority in RCW 89.08.400.
     (4)(a) In the resolution providing for a system of rates and charges, or by separate resolution, the conservation district board of supervisors shall establish a process for appeals and the board's hearing of appeals regarding the application of the adopted system of rates and charges to a parcel or parcels.
     (b) Any appeal under this subsection (4) must be filed with the conservation district no later than twenty-one days after the system of rates and charges has been approved by the county legislative authority. The decision of the board of supervisors regarding any such appeal is final and conclusive.
     (c) Any appeal of the decision of the board shall be to the superior court of the county in which the district is located, and served and filed within twenty-one days of the date of the board's written decision.
     (5) A schedule of rates and charges shall be prepared by each conservation district. The schedule of rates and charges must implement the conservation district's system of rates and charges approved by the county legislative authority. The rates and charges from the schedule of rates and charges must be collected and accounted for by the county treasurer. The rates and charges may be collected in conjunction with the collection of property taxes. The amount of rates or charges constitutes a lien against the land that is 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 rates and charges, as established by the county legislative authority, to cover the costs incurred by the county assessor and county treasurer in spreading and collecting the rates and charges, but not to exceed the actual costs of such work. All remaining funds collected under this section must be transferred to the conservation district and used by the conservation district in accordance with this section.
     (6) The rates and charges for a conservation district shall not be spread on the tax rolls and shall not be allocated with property tax collections in the following year if, after the system of rates and charges has been approved by the county legislative authority but before the fifteenth day of December in that year, a petition has been filed with the county legislative authority objecting to the imposition of such rates and charges, which petition has been signed by at least twenty percent of the owners of land that would be subject to the rate or charge to be imposed for a conservation district.

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 2   If any provision of this act or its application to any person or circumstance is held invalid, the remainder of the act or the application of the provision to other persons or circumstances is not affected.