Wednesday, July 23, 2008

Commissioners wary of open space levy

Decision about whether to place levy override on the November


By JASON KAUFFMAN
Express Staff Writer

Blaine County Commissioners were reluctant Tuesday to place a property tax override request on the ballot for the November election without first getting a look at the tentative details of the county's 2009 budget.

During their regular meeting in Hailey, the commissioners listened to a presentation from local conservation groups who are hoping county property owners will agree to be charged an extra $50 per year, for two years, to pay for conservation efforts in the county.

The coalition of the groups has banded together to support a two-year levy that could, they say, raise $3.5 million. If approved, the property tax override would mean an average two-year increase in the amount of property taxes paid by county homeowners to $50, based on the county's median home value of $436,000.

The proposed Blaine County open space levy is modeled after a similar two-year levy Boise voters approved in 2001. The levy raised $10 million for conservation efforts in the nearby Boise Foothills.

It would only need a simple majority of voter approval to pass.

But, as everyone is probably well aware, these are trying times economically, a fact that was not lost on the commissioners or proponents of the override.

"We know there are concerns about the economy," said Linn Kincannon, Central Idaho Director for the Idaho Conservation League, one of several groups promoting the new levy. The other groups are the Wood River Land Trust, The Nature Conservancy and Citizens for Smart Growth.

Despite this, the groups said they still feel the time is right to put the question to voters.

They take a measure of confidence from a poll conducted by Moore Information, a Portland, Ore.-based research and polling company. In the January poll, that group found that of 400 Blaine County residents, some 63 percent were willing to pay $40 per year to help conserve habitat and open space.

Another poll, conducted this month, had a similar outcome, indicating that of 346 county residents polled, some 65 percent said they would be willing to pay even more—$50 per year—to help conserve habitat and open space in the county.

"This is actually a slight increase from January," said Kate Giese, the Wood River Land Trust's director of conservation.

Just 26 percent of those polled in early July said they wouldn't be willing to pay to help conserve habitat and open space in the county, while nine percent said they didn't know how they'd vote.

The coalition doesn't have any specific plots in mind for protection, but Vanessa Crossgrove-Fry from the Citizens for Smart Growth said the group is looking at the Big Wood River corridor, the Silver Creek area and the Little Wood River watershed north of Carey, based on the results of the surveys. "Those are the critical areas," she said last week. "That's where we can get ahead of the curve."

The January poll also asked the public their view of the county's transfer of development rights (TDR) program. In all, 64 percent of respondents said they have a favorable view of the TDR program, which allows landowners in specified areas of the county to sell their right to develop their land to landowners in other areas that the county has identified as being appropriate for denser subdivision development.

One idea that's been floated would be to use funds generated by the two-year levy override to help purchase development rights as part of the TDR program, Crossgrove-Fry said.

Areas like Little Wood River watershed and its intact wildlife migration corridor are prime for protection, she said. And while the dollar goes a lot further in that area compared with the more populated Big Wood drainage, opportunities to preserve those lands are in danger of being lost, she said.

She said developers are already eyeing undeveloped private lands in the Little Wood River watershed.

"We might be priced out of doing conservation easements," she said.

Despite their best arguments, the supporters of the levy were unable to convince the commissioners to immediately place the levy question on the November ballot. Rather, they agreed to postpone the decision until their Aug. 19 meeting, when the county will have already set its tentative 2009 budget.

The county commissioners said they're concerned about the minority of people who may not support the override. Many of them are struggling to remain in Blaine County, and additional taxes will only hurt them, said Blaine County Commissioner Larry Schoen.

"That's really a concern to me," he said.




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