PORT TOWNSEND — Assessments paid toward noxious weed control may soon increase for Jefferson County property owners.
The Board of County Commissioners opened a hearing on Monday for the rate increase, which was proposed by the county’s Noxious Weed Control Board.
The commissioners held off on approving the increase, citing a need to review details around exemptions for some properties near Olympic National Park on the west end of Jefferson County. They will revisit the topic on Sept. 22.
Under state law, noxious weed control boards have two funding paths. They can be funded through county general funds or through property assessments, noxious weed control program coordinator Sophie DeGroot said in a presentation to the board.
Jefferson County enacted an assessment in 2016 at $4 per non-forested parcel plus 30 cents per acre. The forested land assessment rate was set at one-tenth the rate, or 40 cents per parcel and 3 cents per acre, DeGroot said. In 2024, $147,717 was assessed for the weed board, she added.
Since the assessment was initiated, it has yet to see an increase.
“Since then, inflation has gone up about 34 percent, and that’s just including the cost of materials and labor,” DeGroot said.
The parcel rate would increase to $5.50 and the per-acre rate would increase to 45 cents. Forestland would still be assessed at a one-tenth rate, according to the proposal.
DeGroot noted that the increase would not ultimately show up as a substantial difference for property owners.
For a private property owner with 2 acres, the annual difference would amount to $1.80. For a property owner with 10 acres, the difference would be $3, from $7 to $10, according to a comparison chart in DeGroot’s presentation.
The increase would allow for a collection of $215,543 in assessments.
Along with the parcel and per-acre increase requested in the hearing, the weed board recommended an automatic annual increase based on the Consumer Price Index (CPIW) to reflect inflation.
“That just establishes that we won’t be put in this place again in another 10 years,” DeGroot said.
The increased assessment would allow the board to uphold higher standards of service, purchase a second vehicle, increase outreach, host volunteer events and hire additional employees, among other things, DeGroot said.
The weed board also has proposed a cost-sharing program, which is currently being vetted by the prosecuting attorney’s office, DeGroot said. The program would allow the board to use reserve funds to pay owners up to 70 percent for weed removals from their properties.
“It can be a very big ask to say we need to remove (noxious weeds),” DeGroot said. “We want to be able to support landowners in doing that because that in turn helps us keep them off roadsides.”
Washington counties are mandated to maintain noxious weed control boards, and each board is composed of five members who each oversee a district.
The board’s mission is to protect land, water and natural resources within the county from the impact of noxious weeds by educating residents, property owners, land managers and public agencies on how to be responsible stewards, DeGroot said.
“Noxious weeds are invasive and non-native plants that threaten many things, such as agricultural crops, local ecosystems, fish, wildlife, habitats, even just our local roadside vegetation,” DeGroot said.
The state noxious weed board puts forth a list of weeds annually which counties are required to follow. The list is composed of three classes of weeds from “a” to “c,” with “a” being the most heavily controlled.
The list of weeds from this year can be found at tinyurl.com/mr2khca6.
“About half of all invasive, noxious weeds are escapees from the garden,” DeGroot said. “Many people will plant something because it is easy to take care of and drought resistant, and that may mean that it does too good of a job surviving.”
The weeds also have been spread widely through the construction of logging roads, as seed banks are often found in gravel piles.
DeGroot said the increase in assessment is needed pay for staff. The weed control board recently hired two seasonal employees, one last year and another this year.
“They really have increased what we can do,” she said.
Noxious weed staff perform ongoing weed removal projects.
Last year, the number of controlled acres jumped from 150 to 295. As of August, 230 acres were controlled this year, but DeGroot expects the number to go to more than 300 acres before the season ends.
While adding a second seasonal employee hasn’t yet extended acreage control as much as she expected, DeGroot said it has helped the program in other ways and allowed her to spend more time tending to administrative functions.
The county program also collaborates with teams from the Washington Conservation Corps on removal projects, DeGroot said.
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Reporter Elijah Sussman can be reached by email at elijah.sussman@peninsuladailynews.com.
