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Thurston Conservation District urges county rate increase to raise $2 million, dedicate $1 million to farmland preservation
Summary
At a July 14 Lacey City Council work session, Thurston Conservation District leaders outlined a plan to push county commissioners to raise the district’s per‑parcel 'rates and charges' from $5 to $25 to generate about $2 million a year, with a proposed $1 million annually dedicated to farmland preservation and a new conservation education center.
TJ Johnson, chair of the Thurston Conservation District board of supervisors, told the Lacey City Council on July 14 that the district wants county commissioners to approve a proposal to raise rates and charges to $25 per parcel, a change he said would bring roughly $2 million a year in additional revenue.
"It works out to about 6¢ per property per year additional to leverage that additional $2,000,000," Johnson said, noting the district’s current base assessment is $5 per parcel plus $0.10 per acre and generates roughly $550,000 annually. He said the district’s total budget this year is about $10 million and that the proposal follows a recent legislative change that increased the statutory cap and indexed it to inflation.
Sarah Moorehead, executive director of the Thurston Conservation District, described how the extra funding would be used: to expand farmland‑preservation work, scale neighborhood stormwater and urban‑agriculture programs, and build a regional conservation education center with demonstration sites, nursery capacity and vocational training. "We're embarking on probably the biggest project that we've ever done at TCD to create a conservation education center," Moorehead said.
Johnson said the district plans to dedicate about $1 million a year of the new revenue to farmland preservation for the next decade, compared with the county’s current average of roughly $200,000 available annually through the Conservation Futures Fund. He described a flexible approach that could use easements rather than fee title so the district can act quickly when landowners are ready to sell.
The rate increase is not implemented locally by the district alone: Johnson said the county commissioners must approve the change because collections go through the county treasurer’s office. He said TCD held a public hearing with 28 participants and that none opposed the proposal. "We're gonna be asking the other jurisdictions to get on board with it as well, and we hope we can just rally the whole community around it and move forward with that new funding," Johnson said, and he asked Lacey council members to consider supporting the proposal to the county.
Moorehead said the education center project is in advanced planning phases: TCD recently received a state community‑economic revitalization grant to refine the concept and has contracted with the state’s Department of Enterprise Services to assist a property search; staff said they are using roughly 30 acres as a baseline site size during planning discussions. Moorehead also invited council members to an elected‑officials tour of TCD programs on Sept. 2.
Next steps: Johnson said the rate‑change request has moved to the Thurston County commissioners for their public hearing and consideration, expected early this fall. TCD asked Lacey council members to relay support either formally (by resolution) or informally to the county.
