Clallam County staff review open‑space ordinance revisions and explain tax treatment when parcels exit the program

County assessor staff and an open‑space program specialist briefed the commission on proposed ordinance changes to the county’s public benefit rating and open‑space program and answered commissioners’ questions about tax consequences when parcels fall out of the program.

Pam Mershen, introduced in the meeting as the county assessor, told the commission “It goes back to the taxing district, not just the county. The only thing that goes directly to the county is the penalties and interest.” She explained that compensating taxes collected after a parcel leaves the program are distributed to the taxing districts that cover the property; penalties and interest go to the county general fund.

Staff also described rollback periods staff apply when a parcel is removed from open‑space classifications: open‑space agricultural was described as a seven‑year rollback, while forest classifications use a longer rollback (staff said ten years of current value for forest classification). The assessor’s office said there is no automatic rebate back to taxpayers in the levy calculations when parcels roll out of the program; taxes collected from the rollback are distributed to the taxing districts that would have received them.

Commissioners and staff discussed compliance and enforcement history: the assessor’s office said a prior audit removed several parcels from the program that were out of compliance and that that work took multiple years because of limited staff capacity. Staff said the program’s mechanics mean any returned compensating tax is a windfall to the taxing districts covering the parcel area and that only penalties and interest are retained by the county.

On parcel combination questions, assessor staff clarified valuation practices: when parcels are combined, assessments generally reflect the combined parcel’s market comparables rather than the prior subdivided lot values; the assessor said that can reduce assessed value when multiple small lots are rolled into a single larger parcel depending on market comparables.

Several commissioners asked about program design, whether combined ownerships could qualify jointly for the program, and whether the county could track returned funds into levy calculations (staff said there is no existing statutory or administrative mechanism to feed rollback monies back into levy calculations).