Who pays the tab for ag land development?

There’s a mantra among those opposed to allowing development in Blaine County’s agricultural land.

County officials often recite it at public meetings.

In various incarnations, it usually includes something about how having people and houses far from population centers will stretch county services at taxpayer expense.

Opponents of agricultural land development contend the increased tax revenue generated by building residences on former farmland will not cover the costs of expanding public services, such as sheriff’s patrols, school buses, road maintenance and fire and ambulance, to these remote areas.

"The real issue is the service requirements of residences as opposed to service requirements of ag land," said Blaine County Board of Commissioners Chairman Len Harlig in a recent interview. "People cause more of an impact than bare land."

Last summer, a subdivision just east of rural Picabo in southern Blaine County proposed by the Hofstetter family was denied by county commissioners because the property was determined to be too far from a population center.

"I think the fatal flaw with this particular application is distance from incorporated cities," said Commissioner Mary Ann Mix at the time.

Had it been approved, it would have meant a threefold increase in tax revenue for the county before the first home was built, according to information from the Blaine County Assessor’s Office.

That is still not enough to pay for the county’s service obligations, contend devotees of open space.

‘That’s what all the studies show," said Harlig.

One of the studies Harlig referred to was completed in 1986 by the conservation group, American Farmlands Trust.

That study concluded, "…large lot development is more costly in terms of major public services required. Additionally it is clear that on the whole residential units cost more from the standpoint of the services demanded as compared to tax revenue generated."

That statement is such a big issue, a study to determine whether it applies to Blaine County is underway at the county planning office, Harlig said.

Whether or not county services are extended depends on how county commissioners allocate tax dollars when they draft the annual budget every summer.

Despite the studies and opinions, tax revenue to the county does increase significantly when land is developed.

According to the Assessor’s Office, an irrigated acre of agricultural land in Blaine County has an assessed value of $375.

That land in Blaine County is buildable in 20-acre parcels, so one agricultural building lot has a value of $7,500.

A tax bill, however, is based on a tax rate.

In tax code area Number 13, which includes the county‘s farming district, the 1997 tax rate was .006168615.

That includes taxing districts for rural fire protection, recreation, school district, school bond, flood district, Bellevue Cemetery, county ambulance, and county administrative, legal and law enforcement.

So, under the 1997 tax rate, a 20-acre piece of farmland generates $46 in revenue, which is then divided between each of the services listed above.

But that $46 in revenue increases when use of the land changes from productive agricultural to residential. Even before any home is built, the same 20-acre parcel valued at $7,500 increases its assessed value threefold.

In the Prairie Sun "agricultural subdivision" on Pero Road in the Bellevue Triangle, for example, where an agricultural tax exemption can be granted for productive land, the land is valued at $7,125 and the homesite at $17,625 for a total assessed value of $24,759.

That doesn’t include a valuation for a home or any other improvements, which are assessed on their own merits, according to Deputy Assessor Ken Haught.

When farmland is subdivided, the tax due the county increases from $46 to $152, based on figures computed by Haught.

But, under a county subdivision moratorium in effect for agricultural land, processing of new applications for development of farmland has been halted.

If the moratorium is not renewed and a wave of subdivisions washes over the county, the Blaine County Sheriff’s Office would be among the first agencies swamped by demands for service.

People living outside incorporated cities in Blaine County don’t necessarily warrant constant attention from police, but deputies patrol the roads and subdivisions of the county every day, from one end to the other.

All that driving and manpower costs money, and Sheriff Walt Femling says his department is spread thin already.

"What we’re seeing here in the last five years is more development farther up these canyons and farther out of town," said Femling.

"It isn’t any one subdivision, it’s more subdivisions off the main thoroughfare."

New subdivisions bring in people from more urban areas, who, Femling said, often don’t understand why a deputy may not arrive right away.

"Also, some of these roads where we have complaints about traffic are where we never had traffic before," he said.

A deputy on patrol might find himself or herself anywhere from Craters of the Moon to Galena Summit in the same shift.

"It’s getting to the point where we are stretched," Femling said. "Is two people on duty for the entire county adequate for the citizens of Blaine County?"

Femling said he has not asked for a new deputy position in a few years. If he needs one, he has to ask the county commissioners during summer budget hearings.

If Femling adds a new deputy, it’s a matter of about $20,000 for training at the state police academy, a $24,500 starting salary and about $8,500 in benefits on the county budget.

Although the full effect of growth in Blaine County is hard to predict based on patrols through subdivisions that don’t exist, Femling said population changes already are apparent to commuters on State Highway 75.

"We used to worry about [patrolling] Hailey to Ketchum. Now, we also worry about Highway 20 to south Bellevue."

In a growing county not only are more deputies required to patrol the subdivisions, roads to the developments need to be maintained and resident children need bus rides to school.

Although the four school bus routes that run south of Bellevue are not full, the cost of a new $55,000 bus to service even more rural subdivisions would be borne by taxpayers.

"If subdivision goes in, we have to get a bus as close to it as we can," said Blaine County School District Superintendent Phil Homer.

Although 85 percent of the cost of a bus is reimbursed by the state, "The problem is that Blaine County taxpayers have to come up with the money up front," Homer said.

Pending results of the county study on service costs, growth is controlled for now by its projected cost.

Under a state-imposed cap of 3 percent on increases in property tax levies, county commissioners must be frugal in their budgeting.

The county budget for 1997-98 is $10.8 million.

Because of the cap on levy increases, even if all of Blaine County’s agricultural land became a colossal subdivision overnight, the county would still be constrained by the cap to pay for the increased services.