Blaine County has its share of signature parcels of private land whose permanent preservation as open space generations of local residents have worked tirelessly to ensure.
Silver Creek, Cedar Bend, Reinheimer Ranch and Howard Preserve are just a few. Over the decades, thousands of acres of valuable open space throughout the county have been preserved So, is the work complete, or are there many acres of private land still in need of protection? On Nov. 4, county voters will decide.
At hand is a proposal to temporarily boost Blaine County property tax levy rates to raise funds for the preservation of open-space lands in select locations throughout the county. The idea for the levy increase was hatched by four local nonprofits: the Idaho Conservation League, Wood River Land Trust, The Nature Conservancy and Citizens for Smart Growth.
The groups hope county homeowners will agree to temporarily increase their property tax rates for two years—a question the County Commission agreed to put on the November ballot as Proposition 1, or the "Land, Water and Wildlife Levy."
The temporary, two-year levy would raise about $3.5 million. If approved, the property tax override would mean an average increase in property taxes of $50 per year, based on the county's median home value of $436,000.
The proposed Blaine County open-space levy is modeled after a similar one approved by Boise voters in 2001. The levy raised $10 million for conservation efforts in the Boise foothills.
The levy increase for open space preservation would only need a simple majority of voter approval to pass.
The groups don't have specific sites in mind for protection, but Citizens for Smart Growth Executive Director Vanessa Crossgrove-Fry has said they're 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 recent surveys. The surveys indicated that an overwhelming majority of respondents would support increasing their property taxes, an idea that wasn't lost on the commissioners, some of whom had shown initial reluctance to further burden taxpayers.
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 county's transfer of development rights (TDR) program. The program allows landowners in specified areas of the county to sell their rights to develop their land to landowners in other areas that the county has identified as being appropriate for denser subdivision development.
The groups pushing the levy plan have organized under one banner as the Blaine County Citizens for Water and Wildlife. The group's Web site is located at http://www.bccww.org.
During the general election on Nov. 4, Blaine County voters will consider a temporary two-year increase to their property tax rates to fund the preservation of open-space lands, including in the Silver Creek area, one of the sites backers of the plan have highlighted for possible protection efforts. Photo by David N. Seelig
