MLIRD bill passes

OLYMPIA – Senate Bill 5460, a bill intended to restore Moses Lake Irrigation and Rehabilitation District’s ability to fund itself, passed the state House Wednesday. The bill doesn’t hit the mark according to local officials, but legislators feel that it at least restores MLIRD’s ability to raise money.

“I think what we’ve done with that (bill) is allow it to continue to be effective for the community and continue to assess what’s needed to meet the (MLIRD) budget,” said Judy Warnick (R-Moses Lake), prime sponsor of the bill.

The bill, which has passed both the House and Senate unanimously, specifically applies to Moses Lake because the MLIRD is the only district of its kind in the state. Due to this special circumstance, and the legislation that applied to the special district had been recently ruled on in county court, current legislation wasn’t sufficient to meet the district’s needs in being able to assess and collect the assessments. However, the passed legislation limits the amount of money that can be raised to about $150,000 when past budgets for the district have called for roughly $2 million or a little less.

Companion bills SB 5460 and House Bill 1494, looked to fix the issue. HB 1494 never made it out of the House but SB 5460 had better traction and cleared first the Senate and now the House. Verification of amendments must pass in order for the potential law to move on to the governor’s desk for signature.

SB 5460 requires the MLIRD to annually determine its monetary needs for rehabilitation operations, provide notice of proposed assessments and hold equalization hearings similar to other special-purpose districts. The measure also limits the budget intended for rehabilitation purposes not to exceed $1 per $1,000 of the aggregate assessed value of all property in the district. Exceeding that amount requires authorization from electors in the district by a majority vote.

“I hope that will help the treasurer,” Warnick said.

However, Grant County Treasurer Darryl Pheasant said there is a problem with the language of the bill which may make it less effective than intended. While Pheasant said the bill restores the district’s ability to assess, there is a different issue at hand. One simple word that changes a lot for the MLIRD, he says: budget.

The language of the bill states that “The district budget for rehabilitation purposes shall not exceed an amount equal to $1 per $1,000 of the assessed aggregate valuation of all property within the district.…”

Pheasant said the issue lies in the word ‘budget’ rather than using the word ‘assess’ because that language, while allowing the district to assess, does not limit the amount the district can assess but rather limits the amount of the district’s budget.

As an example, Pheasant said MLIRD had a total funding of about $1.7 million in 2020 split between irrigation and rehabilitation. In 2019, the district collected more than $2.9 million for irrigation alone, he said. However, a court found that the district could not assess based on irrigation services it is not yet providing. Efforts are underway to begin using lake water for irrigation purposes, but that project is not settled yet, leaving the district with the ability to only assess for rehabilitation efforts which doesn’t allow them to address providing that service in the future, nor account for unforeseen emergencies.

“When you do 25 cents on land value, you only generate $150,000, and they need to generate $2 million. … That’s what I was trying to get them to fix,” said Pheasant. “Because no board wants to have a law that limits your budget in case you have an emergency.”

Rebecca Pettingill may be reached at rpettingill@columbiabasinherald.com.