Drafter

Clerk 09/24/2025

Title

AN ORDINANCE regarding the King County noxious weed control program; revising King County noxious weed control program assessments; amending Ordinance 13325, Sections 1 and 2, as amended, and K.C.C. 4A.670.200 and establishing an effective date.

Body

STATEMENT OF FACTS:

1.  Since the last noxious weed parcel assessment increase in 2022 under Ordinance 19535, there have been increases in the costs of providing noxious weed prevention and control services and increases in the number and acreage of noxious weed sites in King County that are mandated for control by chapter 17.10 RCW.  The noxious weed control program continues to discover higher numbers of infested sites each year.  There have been ten additions to the State and County Noxious Weed List across eight hundred fifteen new sites since 2022, requiring research and new surveying techniques by county staff to ensure compliance with new regulations.  In addition, widespread nonregulated invasive weeds are creating increasingly adverse effects to farms, forests, and urban greenspaces, and additional resources are needed to identify and achieve higher levels of control of these damaging species, especially to underserved communities and in areas being protected by conservation efforts.

2.  There was no fee increase sought during the 2025 annual budget cycle, thereby utilizing a portion of the program’s thirty-day fund reserve.  The proposed rate restores the fund reserve and covers three years of inflationary increases through 2027 to sustain existing level of service.  The King County noxious weed control budget for 2026 and 2027 is included in the King County budget for 2026 and 2027, submitted to the King County council by the King County executive, and based on this budget, an increase in the noxious weed control program assessment is warranted on all property not classified as forest land from six dollars and twenty cents to eight dollars and twelve and two one-thousandths cents per parcel and from forty-four and twenty-nine one thousandths cents to fifty-eight cents per acre on all property not classified as forest land shall be imposed annually.  Property classified as forest land, as defined in RCW 84.33.035, that is used solely for the planting, growing, or harvesting of trees and that is typified by canopies so dense as to prohibit the growth of an understory, shall be increased from sixty-two cents to eighty-one and two one-thousandths cents per parcel and from four and forty-three one-thousandths cents to five and eight one-thousandths cents per acre fee, in order to address the increases in noxious weed species listed, their area of infestation, and their impacts.

3.  Lands owned by the federal government or by federally recognized tribes or members of such tribes that are located within the historical boundaries of a reservation shall not be assessed for the noxious weed control program.

4.  It is in the public interest, and is necessary for the protection of health, safety, and welfare for the residents of King County that the necessary costs of providing noxious weed control program services continue to be paid, and that such costs continue to be charged against those parcels benefitting from these services.

                     BE IT ORDAINED BY THE COUNCIL OF KING COUNTY:

                     SECTION 1.  A.  Section 2 of this ordinance proposes to revise the noxious weed control program assessments.

                     B.  These assessments are authorized under RCW 17.10.240.

                     SECTION 2.  Ordinance 13325, Sections 1 and 2, as amended, and K.C.C. 4A.670.200 are each hereby amended to read as follows:

                     A.  An assessment for the King County noxious weed control program of ((six dollars and twenty)) eight dollars and one hundred twenty-two one thousandths cents per parcel and ((forty-four and twenty-nine one thousandth)) fifty-eight cents per acre on all property not classified as forest land shall be imposed annually.  Property classified as forest land, as defined in RCW 84.33.035, that is used solely for the planting, growing or harvesting of trees and that is typified by canopies so dense as to prohibit the growth of an understory shall be assessed at the rate of ((sixty-two)) eighty-one and two one-thousandths cents per parcel and ((four and forty-three one-thousandths)) five and eight one-thousandths cents per acre.

                     B.  The amount of the assessment shall constitute a lien against any property for which the assessment has not been paid by the date it is due, as provided in RCW 17.10.240.  A notice of lien shall be sent to each owner of such a property.

                     C.  Lands owned by the federal government or lands owned by federally recognized tribes or members of such tribes as are located within the historical

boundaries of a reservation shall not be assessed for the noxious weed control program.

                     SECTION 3.  This ordinance takes effect January 1, 2026.