GOLDENDALE — In the morning workshop session on May 19, Klickitat County Commission Chair Ron Ihrig reported on a Washington State Association of Counties (WSAC) meeting that involved choosing lobbying priorities for Olympia. The group started with 22 proposals submitted from various counties, with the goal of whittling them down to a half-dozen.
After much discussion, he said, WSAC decided to adopt four that applied to all counties, plus one from an urban county and one from a rural county. The four all-county proposals included one that would correct a $110 million tax miscalculation by that Department of Revenue that penciled out to a $2 million hit for Klickitat County.
IIhrig had submitted one of the rural counties’ proposals. Currently, the state mandates that counties collect sales tax on wind and solar projects, then rebate it, which leads to millions of dollars in lost revenue.
A number of counties were concerned that the Energy Facility Site Evaluation Council (EFSEC) was pushing through projects against local opposition, he said, and outlined Klickitat County’s proposal.
Under WSAC rules, a proposal has to receive 85% of the vote of all counties to be on the list.
“I had lobbied hard the day before,” Ihrig said. “We received, on the first vote, 93% of all the counties supporting our proposal. All of the eastside counties supported it strongly; a lot of the westside counties supported it.”
If counties are successful in lobbying the issue through the legislature next year, it could mean millions in future revenues for cash-strapped counties.
Commissioners also clarified that the state had rejected their grant proposal for a park in Dallesport — because it just came with a conceptual drawing and no design. Such a design, which would include how to bring utilities to the park and what amenities would be provided, would cost between $50,000 and $100,000.
The next application will be for that piece. Commissioners would also have to decide on a plan to cover the maintenance, including whether or not the county wants to take on that cost.
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