Value of Local Funding to Our Area
For every $1 collected through its Assessment, the Okanogan Conservation District leverages just over $7 in private, local, state and federal grant funds, and landowner cost share. These are dollars that are spent right here, in Okanogan County.
Local Funding Provides Stability in Uncertain Times
The addition of local funding to the Okanogan CD budget in 2007 provides a significant level of stability to keep up basic operations and allow Okanogan CD to address local priorities even when grant funding is lacking. In the last several years, there have been shortages of state funding, threatened and actual government shutdowns, and the loss of in-kind donations for office space and utilities that had been provided for decades. Without local funds to bridge these gaps, any one of these crises could have severely reduced our ability to provide landowners with much needed services.
Local Funding Made Fire Recovery Efforts Possible
Over the past two years, Okanogan CD staff have secured more than $3 million in grant funds for fire recovery. Local funds supported our efforts to assist hundreds of landowners and implement projects such as emergency home protection, fence replacement, erosion control seeding, coordination of emergency rain gage installation, and analysis of burn severity. Without the flexibility that local funding provides, it would have been extremely difficult to help fire survivors recover from the back-to-back wildfire disasters.
How Else Does Local Funding Help Us to Help You?
Okanogan CD is primarily grant funded. Local funds from the special assessment provide about ten percent of the total annual budget of approximately $1.1 million. While 10% may not seem like much, these local funds are the crucial foundation from which we can build the leverage which brings in 7 dollars to every 1 dollar of local funding. Okanogan CD uses these local dollars to develop and implement grants that have helped landowners with a wide range of voluntary conservation efforts. Some examples:
- Improved irrigation efficiency with water management systems
- Better energy efficiency through improved irrigation pump systems
- Higher water quality thanks to reduced runoff and improved riparian systems, along with better range management and stock water systems for livestock owners.
- Improved wildlife habitat through fish-friendly pump screens, and help for landowners with upland wildlife habitat for sage grouse and other terrestrial species.
- More resilient homes and businesses through the Firewise and Fire Adapted Communities programs.
These local funds allowed Okanogan CD to work on resources concerns and apply for grants that may have otherwise been unavailable to local landowners.
Time to Renew Local Funding
Okanogan CD is seeking to renew the local funding currently collected through an assessment. In that renewal process, Okanogan CD proposes to switch from an assessment system to a rates and charges system. In doing so, a rates analysis is necessary and will be available soon on our website. The property owners within the Okanogan CD service area may see a slight difference in their annual bill due to the results of this rate analysis. However, the funds will still be collected through the property tax statements sent by the County, and there will still be a maximum of $5 per parcel and $0.10 per acre.
Why Are We Here and Whom Do We Serve?
The Okanogan Conservation District is a locally-led special purpose district created in 1940 under Chapter 89.08 of the Revised Code of Washington (RCW). The purpose of the district is to assist landowners and tenants with natural resource conservation on the lands they manage. The District serves all of unincorporated Okanogan County as well as the cities of Okanogan, Nespelem, Elmer City, Coulee Dam (portion in Okanogan County only), and Omak (only the portion East of the Okanogan River). All other incorporated cities are not included in the District’s service area. Any incorporated city may opt into or out of the District by resolution of their City Council at any time.
History of the Special Assessment
The Okanogan Conservation District has received a special assessment as allowed by Chapter 89.08.400 RCW since January, 2007. Special assessments are authorized for conservation districts to fund activities and programs declared to be of special benefit to lands to conserve natural resources, including soil and water, and may be used as the basis upon which special assessments are imposed. The RCW authorizes the county legislative authority of the county in which the conservation district is located to accept the proposed assessment for a period not to exceed ten years in duration. The Okanogan Board of County Commissioners did so in 2006 for a period of 10 years beginning in 2007. This year is the final year of our Special Assessment. Since 2007, the District has collected a Special Assessment as allowed by Chapter 89.08.400 RCW.
Why Rates and Charges?
Due to pending litigation in Washington State regarding property assessments, several conservation districts, including the Pierce, King, Snohomish, Mason, and Spokane Conservation Districts collaborated in the 2012 Legislative Session to add an alternative method of collecting local revenue called a rate or a charge. This method is described in RCW 89.08.405. A conservation district cannot impose both an assessment (89.08.400) and a rate or charge (89.08.405). An assessment is generally related to a service or improvement that adds value to a parcel of property. Alternately, a rate is a charge intended to recover the cost of public improvements, services or programs, received by or available to properties in the District, or to pay for costs to mitigate negative impacts on natural resources from those properties i.e. protection of soil and water quality, forest health, or habitat restoration. Under rates and charges, each eligible parcel is subject to a charge; there is still a cap of $5 per parcel on eligible parcels to be charged and $0.10 per acre; and, rates cannot be increased without authorization from the State Legislature, the Okanogan CD Board of Supervisors, and the Board of County Commissioners. The full report on how rates and charges were determined is available here.
How Can You Support the Okanogan Conservation District Local Funding Proposal?
There are several opportunities to voice support for the Okanogan CD proposal for a system of rates and charges to maintain this very important local funding. First there is a public hearing scheduled for July 19 at 6:00 PM at the Okanogan PUD Auditorium in Okanogan, WA. Landowners are encouraged to attend this hearing and provide public comment regarding the proposal. Landowners may also provide direct comment to Okanogan CD or to the Board of County Commissioners.
