SEELEY LAKE – The Seeley Lake Community Council hosted a forum Sept. 10 on the Open Space Bond. Missoula County voters will decide the fate of the $15 million bond in the Nov. 6 election.
Executive Director of Five Valleys Land Trust and a representative of Yes for Open Space, Rivers and Farmland Amber Sherrill made the argument in favor of the bond while House District 92 Representative and candidate Mike Hopkins made the opposing argument.
Sherrill explained that the bond is a continuation of a $10 million bond that was voted for in 2006 and was split between the county and city. She said the previous bond was used to match other funds available from federal, state and foundations. The bond was leveraged four to one bringing in $40 million for conservation.
Sherrill said the county portion of the 2006 bond protected 12,747 acres of land with the largest portion being wildlife habitat. Of that, 4,305 acres are publically accessible. The bond also protected 34 miles of waterways and five miles of trails.
Statewide there is close to 1.5 million acres of public land that has no public access according to Sherrill. The bond would be a tool used to open up access to some of that land for hunters, anglers, snowmobilers and other public user groups.
Sherrill said one of the 2018 bond projects that has already been discussed is getting a safer, more direct trail from the town of Seeley Lake to the lake itself. Another project in the area is to help piece together the checkerboard lands owned by The Nature Conservatory.
One misconception that Sherrill said exists is that the support for the bond only comes from the city. She said a canvas of both the city and county voters was done and showed 65-70 percent strong support for the bond in the county. She added that the funds are not just spent in the city.
Hopkins opened by saying that he felt the government should put aside some of the money it already takes in for future projects instead of raising the tax burden on people. For him the bond was just another one of the constant tax increases in Missoula County.
Hopkins felt that looking at the bond by itself it doesn’t look that bad until you start looking at the last 15 years of Missoula County tax policy. He said taxes were just raised by the county and he thinks that more tax increases are part of the county’s near future because he doesn’t see the county changing its ways.
Not only will taxes go up in Missoula County according to Hopkins. He said that during the last legislative session Democrats proposed 18 separate tax increases worth $300 million that didn’t pass but someday they may. People are going to get taxed out of their own houses.
Hopkins acknowledged that taxes sometimes need to grow but said they should grow with the tax base instead of at the expense of the tax base. While Hopkins said he likes open space and public lands he also likes people. He thinks people should be able to follow their dreams first and foremost, not be taxed out of them.
Sherrill said she understands the issue of raising taxes but feels that we have a responsibility to future generations to be able to enjoy what we enjoy today. She didn’t think the $1.80 per month for the average priced home was too much.
Questions from the audience:
When you take an acre of private land out of circulation it inflates the cost of housing because there is already a shortage of land in the area. The Lolo National Forest by itself is 2 million acres of open space. How much more do we need?
Sherrill said that most of the areas that receive conservation easements have little to no infrastructure so they would be very expensive for housing. She said the bond also preserves the agricultural livelihood of communities by putting farmland into conservation easements and allowing families to pass down their operations to future generations.
Hopkins said he didn’t think that the money was necessarily going to be spent poorly. He said he could do great things if everyone would give him all their money but they wouldn’t be able to make their own decisions with it and that was not right.
Is there any opportunity in the state legislature to shift some of the tax burden off of ever-increasing property taxes and onto something like sales taxes or more reliance on income tax?
Hopkins thinks there are more and more representatives in the state legislature that are feeling pressure from their constituents to do something to reform property tax. He said there have been conversations about changing out the income or property tax with a sales tax. He doesn’t trust that a sales tax would actually replace one of the others and Montana would end up with all three taxes.
Hopkins said a better goal would be for the government to learn how to budget again. He understands that projects may not be able to get done as soon but there is no point in building up an area if all the people who live there originally can’t stay due to the tax burden.
What are the plans with the funds if this new bond is passed?
Sherrill said the bond is written with a fairly broad language. Funds could be used for a wide range of things including farmland, public access and waterway improvements. When the 2006 bond was passed there were only a dozen projects in mind but the bond ended up funding nearly 50 projects. The bond runs for 20 years and makes funds available as projects come in.
How is the money allocated to projects?
Sherrill explained that there is a citizen oversight committee in the county called the Open Lands Advisory Committee that is appointed by the county commissioners. All projects are vetted though the committee and they make recommendations to the commissioners who have the final decision.
What projects were done in the local area with the 2006 bond?
Sherrill said there was a lot of work done in the Woodworth area as well as projects in Greenough and Potomac including projects on the E Bar L Ranch and Rich Ranch.
Of the trails you are making, how many of them are handicap accessible with motorized vehicles?
Sherrill said she didn’t know how many trails allow motorized use but that several projects have been handicap accessible and future projects are being considered to make trails accessible for wheelchairs and walkers.
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