PORT TOWNSEND – A proposal for a countywide clean water district that includes Port Townsend is proving to be a hard sell for county health and elected officials.
“It seems to be county-centric,” said Mayor Mark Welch, responding to Jefferson County health officials’ presentation of the proposal during a joint city-county meeting on Tuesday.
“Why are we being asked to pay a share?”
Welch was joined by others on the City Council, such as George Randels, who protested that about 6,000 of the 27,000 parcels of property upon which an $18 fee would be levied are in the city of Port Townsend.
The fee, as proposed, would be included on annual property tax bills and would amount to about $500,000 a year for three new staffers to monitor water quality and perform public outreach and education on how to properly use and care for septic systems.
Timberland, low-income seniors and the disabled would be exempt.
Randels also complained that he did not get a copy of the county’s proposed clean water district ordinance during the meeting.
In addition, he said that the mention of the proposal being a “permanent funding solution” gave him pause.
Councilwoman Catharine Robinson said she saw the fee as unfair and regressive.
