MOSES LAKE — The Moses Lake City Council unanimously voted to withdraw from the Grant County Conservation District (GCCD) during Tuesday night’s council meeting.

Moses Lake has been in the GCCD, which assists county residents in design and funding for improvement projects, since 1975. Over the years the GCCD has opted not to impose rates or special assessments for the services they provide to the parcels of land they cover. This year the GCCD, based on a rate study, went in the direction of imposing a rate.

“Under their statute they are authorized to impose either a rate, or a special assessment,” City Attorney Katherine Kenison explained to the council. “They also have the authority to establish just a flat rate. It’s not a special assessment, they have the authority to do either. They can’t do both. They can pick. And so they elected to do a rate.”

Statutory maximums allow the GCCD to impose a rate per parcel and a rate per acre, or both.

“And each of those has a maximum $5 per parcel, or 10 cents per acre. They have elected to go straight to the maximum on both. And they are asking that this rate be imposed for a minimum term of 10 years. The Grant County Commissioners have authorized it, so it will become effective Jan. 1, 2018 and it imposes that $5-per-parcel and 10-cents per-acre rate on every parcel within city limits, including all city owned land,” Kenison said.

In looking at the purposes of the GCCD, city officials determined the district is more agriculturally-based in its scope. City staff concluded it would be in the best interest of the city and property owners for the council to ask to be removed from the district, City Manager John Williams said.

The council unanimously approved a resolution to petition to be removed from the GCCD, which will be sent to the GCCD’s board of supervisors who will either approve or reject the petition. If the petition is rejected it would then go to the state, where officials would make the final determination.

Kenison said the cities of Ephrata and Royal City have already voted to withdraw from the district, with three or four other cities in the county leaning in the direction of leaving. Quincy and Warden have voted to stay in the district.

Richard Byrd can be reached via email at city@columbiabasinherald.com.