Would lower property taxes: Kammerzell seeks open space class for project site

The county assessor's office has received a request from Tom Kammerzell to have some of his land re-classified from agricultural land to open space.

“It won't meet the farm and ag current use because it's no longer farm and ag land,” Commissioner Art Swannack said at the Sept. 6 commission meeting where the request was first presented.

As part of the Moscow-Pullman Airport Runway realignment project, 113.6 acres of property which Tom and Cheryl Kammerzell own was used as an off-site wetland/stream mitigation site. That project created 9.4 acres of new riverine wetland, in-stream habitat improvements, installation of more than 19,000 native plantings and permanently protected 9,430 linear feet of the South Fork of the Palouse River. A conservation easement, held by Palouse Land Trust, was put on the land which restricts development on the land.

“It was in ag, and in ag you can have production, timber and grazing,” said Kammerzell. “(The change) is just reflecting its actual usage.”

The easement agreement ensures the land's preservation and that the Kammerzells are in compliance. They sold the development rights of the land through the easement to Palouse Land Trust for $2,500 per acre. A transfer tax affidavit filed July 30, 2015, in the treasurer's office listed the sale at $284,000.

The Kammerzells still pay property taxes on the land. Kammerzell said the re-classification of the land would lower the property tax rate.

“There'd be a difference in tax value. It'd be like having a house and having it burn down. You don't pay taxes on a house that's burned down,” he said. “You pay taxes on the land in reflection of its ability to earn income, and this land doesn't do that anymore.”

The proposal was brought before the Board of County Commissioners Sept. 6, and a decision was delayed until more could be learned.

“We've got an attorney saying one thing and the Department of Revenue saying another,” said Alan Thomson, county planner.

Thomson explained at the commission meeting that the re-classification is new territory for the county.

“Open space is not mentioned anywhere. There's nothing in the zoning plan, there's nothing in the comprehensive plan,” he said. “Conservation easements can happen; they do happen. I'm not convinced that we need to have anything in the comprehensive plan that says we can have conservation easements.”

In conversation with the Gazette, Thomson said the county is taking time to have the request reviewed before moving forward.

“It's in the hands of Denis Tracy, the prosecutor,” he reported. “There's a little bit of confusion as to how to go about this and whether it changes code or if the commissioners can just re-designate it.”

Kammerzell said the Open Space Taxation Act, which can be found on the Washington State Department of Revenue, fits with actual use of the land.

“It's new for them (the county),” he said. “But it meets the criteria very handily. It describes it almost as if you're looking right at the land.”

The commission could discuss the proposal at its next meeting, slated for Monday, Sept. 19, in the commissioner's chambers at the courthouse. Action may or may not be taken at that time. The public is welcome to attend.

The county assessor's office was unavailable for comment prior to press deadline.