||| FROM RON WHALEN |||
The Voters Pamphlet will be mailed out the first week in October. A copy can be accessed here:
Page 12 explains Proposition No. 1 – Extending Conservation Area Real Estate Excise Tax. Page 13 presents advocacy arguments. In the argument for, first paragraph, last sentence, it states:
Your Yes vote also preserves the Home Fund for Affordable Housing!
The above sentence is misleading and contrary to statements made by director of the Land Bank(LB) in a LB meeting on 3/15/24. The sentence suggests voting No on Proposition No. 1 would discontinue the home fund for affordable housing. The following link is video of the LB meeting of 3/15/24:
Both the LB REET and affordable housing REET are authorized through 2026. Nothing changes until the end of 2026. The noted underlined sentence above conveniently omits a relevant timeline. Voting Yes or No on Proposition No 1 will have NO EFFECT on the LB REET or the affordable housing REET until the end of 2026.
The noted sentence in the argument for is an attempt to coerce voters into believing the affordable housing REET could be lost by voting no on Proposition No. 1 on November 5, 2024. The LB is using the Affordable Housing REET as a hook to sustain the Land Bank REET. The Land Bank REET and the Affordable Housing REET should be reckoned separately on their own merit.
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Please see the relevant state law, RCW 82.46.075:, para (5), authorizing counties to impose an affordable housing REET: “No tax may be imposed under this section unless the county imposes a tax under RCW 82.46.070 at the maximum rate and the tax was imposed by January 1, 2003”. RCW 82.46.070 authorizes counties to fund Land Conservation Banks via a REET. So in fact if the LB is discontinued, the affordable housing REET and everything it funds will also disappear. The pamphlet is entirely correct.
The Affordable Housing REET is authorized through 2030. It would end in 2026 if the Land Bank REET is not renewed. A county can not have an affordable housing REET without also having a Land Bank REET. To imply otherwise is incorrect and misleading. We need all the housing support we can muster, and I sure enjoy my walks on Land Bank preserves. I hope you will join me and vote to renew the Land Bank.
The Land Bank meeting that Ron Whalen refers to was back in March. Since that time, the PA has weighed in and informed us that if the Land Bank is not reauthorized by the voters, the Home Fund REET cannot be collected after the REET for conservation ends.
Those of us on the Housing Advisory Committee were not happy about this since the Home Fund was just voted in in 2018. But the State RCW only allows collecting the REET for affordable housing IF the conservation REET is fully funded.
This is one of the reasons why all SIX local housing groups and THREE Family Resource Centers are supporting the Conservation REET renewal. You can read their letter at RenewOurLandBank.com – scroll down about halfway down the page after their organization logos.
You can learn more about the link between the Land Bank and Affordable Housing here: RenewOurLandBank.com/affordable-housing
If you want the Home Fund to continue, please vote yes on Proposition 1 to renew the Land Bank. Thank you!