Drafter
Clerk 10/20/2016
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AN ORDINANCE amending the application fee of the public benefit rating system program for open space and timber lands current use assessment provisions; and amending Ordinance 1076, Section 4, as amended, and K.C.C. 20.36.040.
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PREAMBLE:
Current use taxation programs, as defined in chapters 84.33 and 84.34 RCW, offer a property tax reduction to landowners who voluntarily preserve or manage lands within four categories: open space land or land in the public benefit rating system, farm and agriculture land, timber land and designated forest land.
King County first adopted a public benefit rating system program in 1992, and a number of changes to the program have been made since to improve the program, including a fee increase in 2010. The application fee contributes to the cost of processing the applications for participation in the public benefit rating system and additional revenue received from this proposed increase will reduce the proportion of processing costs covered by the general fund.
BE IT ORDAINED BY THE COUNCIL OF KING COUNTY:
SECTION 1. A. Section 2 of this ordinance amends fees currently charged related to applications for open space or timber land under the King County current use taxation program.
B. These fees are assessed under RCW 84.34.030(2).
SECTION 2. Ordinance 1076, Section 4, as amended, and K.C.C. 20.36.040 are each hereby amended to read as follows:
A. Except as provided in subsection B. of this section, the applicant shall pay a current use filing fee, payable to the King County finance and business operations division or its successor, in the amount of ((four hundred eighty)) one thousand two hundred dollars for each open space or timber land application and one hundred eighty one dollars for each farm and agriculture application.
B. If an application is filed to add farm and agricultural conservation land, forest stewardship land, resource restoration, or rural stewardship land category to a parcel that is already enrolled in the public benefit rating system, no fee shall be charged for that application.
C. In the case of all farm and agricultural land applications, whether the application is based on land within or outside of an incorporated area, the entire fee shall be collected and retained by the county. In the case of open space or timber land applications based on land in an incorporated area of the county, where the city legislative authority has set no filing fee, the county fee shall govern and the entire fee shall be collected and retained by the county. Where the city legislative authority has established a filing fee for open space or timber land applications based on land in an incorporated area of the county, the fee established in subsection A. of this section shall be collected by the county from the applicant and the county shall pay the city one-half of the fee collected. The amount paid by the county to the city shall not exceed the fee established by the city. The city shall be responsible for collecting any fees that it has established that exceed one-half of the amount established by subsection A. of this section.