Drafter
Clerk 11/14/2007
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AN ORDINANCE regarding the King County noxious weed control program; revising King County noxious weed control program assessments; confirming the exception for federally and tribally owned lands; and amending Ordinance 13225, Sections 1 and 2, and K.C.C. 4.94.010
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STATEMENT OF FACTS:
1. On November 19, 2001, the King County council adopted Ordinance 14263 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 November 19, 2001, the costs of providing noxious weed control services have risen substantially.
3. The King County noxious weed control board resolved on May 16, 2007, that the noxious weed control program assessment must be increased to provide the services necessary to educate the public and to identify and control both terrestrial and aquatic noxious weed infestations.
4. The King County noxious weed board has submitted its 2008 budget for noxious weed control to the King County council, 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 one dollar and fifty cents to two dollars and ten cents per parcel, and from nine cents to fifteen cents in the per acre fee, and on property classified as forest land, from fifteen cents to twenty-one cents per parcel, and from nine-tenths of a cent to one and one-half cents in the per acre fee, in order to meet the rising costs of providing necessary noxious weed control services.
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 benefiting 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 13225, Sections 1 and 2, and K.C.C. 4.94.010 are each hereby amended to read as follows:
A. An assessment for the King County Noxious Weed Control Program of (($1.50)) two dollars and ten cents per parcel and (($0.09)) fifteen 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, which is used solely for the planting, growing or harvesting of trees and which is typified by canopies so dense as to prohibit the growth of an understory shall be assessed at the rate of (($0.15)) twenty-one cents per parcel and (($0.009)) one and one-half cents per acre.
B. The amount of ((such)) 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 that 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, 2008.
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