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Commissioner presents spreadsheet alleging multimillion-dollar tribal tax exemptions; lands committee to reconvene
Summary
Commissioner Ron Richards told the Charter Review Commission he had prepared a spreadsheet, drawn from county assessor records, that he says shows tribal tax exemptions in Clallam County total about $3,000,000 annually.
Commissioner Ron Richards presented a lands committee report that he said included a spreadsheet, distributed in the meeting packet, estimating that the Jamestown tribal holdings in Clallam County generate roughly $3,000,000 per year in tax exemptions.
Richards said he prepared the spreadsheet from county assessor records and urged the commission to re-open the lands committee to study the issue and to consider whether to submit related charter language to voters. He said he believed prior county administrators and commissioners had underestimated the scale of tax exemptions associated with tribal trust land and requested that the commission consider asking the Bureau of Indian Affairs for information.
Commissioner Bates asked whether the spreadsheet came from the county assessor's office database; Richards replied that it did. Other commissioners asked about the portion of county acreage that is taxable; Richards and other speakers noted that much of Clallam County is federal or state forestland and that even a small share of taxable acreage can represent a substantial revenue impact.
During public comment, speakers urged attention to Bureau of Indian Affairs letters and suggested the commission take steps, if needed, to require the county to respond. The commission did not adopt any charter language at the meeting but Richards said he plans to call a lands committee meeting to examine the spreadsheet, sourcing and possible next steps.
