Drafter
Clerk 11/07/2014
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AN ORDINANCE regarding the King County noxious weed control program; revising King County noxious weed control program assessments; and amending Ordinance 13325, Sections 1 and 2, as amended, and K.C.C. 4A.670.200.
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STATEMENT OF FACTS:
1. On November 15, 2007, the King County council adopted Ordinance 15958 at the request of the King County noxious weed board to raise the noxious weed control program assessment in order to expand noxious weed control services as authorized in RCW 17.10.240.
2. Since the last noxious weed parcel assessment increase in 2007, there have been increases in the costs of providing noxious weed prevention and control services, increases in the number and acreage of noxious weed sites in King County that are mandated for control by chapter 17.10 RCW, including an unprecedented increase in the number of sites infested with garlic mustard sites, a highly challenging and damaging Class A noxious weed that is mandated for eradication, and a decrease in external grant funding for the riparian knotweed program.
3. The King County noxious weed control board resolved on May 21, 2014, that the noxious weed control program assessment must be increased to provide the services necessary to educate the public about noxious weeds harmful to the economy and environment of King County, and to identify and control both terrestrial and aquatic noxious weed infestations mandated for control by chapter 17.10 RCW.
4. The King County noxious weed control board's budget for noxious weed control for 2015 and 2016 is included in the King County budget for 2015 and 2016 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 two dollars and ten cents to three dollars and seventeen and one-tenth cents per parcel, and from fifteen cents to twenty-two and sixty-five one-hundredth cents in the per acre fee, and on property classified as forest land, from twenty-one cents to thirty-one and seventy-one one-hundredth cents per parcel, and from one and one-half cents to two and two-hundred-sixty-five one-thousandth cents in the per acre fee, in order to address the increases in noxious weed infestation and the decrease in external grant funding for noxious weed control.
5. 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.
6. 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.
7. The King County noxious weed control board has petitioned the King County council to increase the noxious weed control program assessment and the King County council finds that the requested increase in assessment is necessary and justified.
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 ((two dollars and ten)) three dollars and seventeen and one-tenth cents per parcel and ((fifteen)) twenty-two and sixty-five one-hundredth 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 ((twenty-one)) thirty-one and seventy-one one-hundredth cents per parcel and ((one and one-half)) two and two-hundred-sixty-five one-thousandth 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, 2015.