Commentary by Dick Pilling
Hey County Commissioners! What the heck are ya thinking? You gonna’ raise my taxes? To create a “Conservation Futures Fund”? And purchase land to preserve for agricultural purposes. To sustain the nation’s food supply? Really?
Do you not know that in the 1800’s, fully 90% of the population lived and worked on farms but that today, this figure has decreased to about 1% and, therefore, the arable land in Clallam County makes a minimal contribution to our food supply?
A farmer should be allowed to sell his land as he sees fit but don’t use my tax dollars to subsidize him so that he can place his property in a status that is not the highest and best possible use of the land. Which, likely, is not agriculture.
And, incidentally, this plan will further reduce the land available for housing which further increases housing prices thereby placing homeownership further out of reach for many of our citizens and, consequently, further intensifying the homeless problem…
So really, this whole deal is to extort money from me that I really don’t want to give you and that you really don’t need in order to address a farming problem that we really don’t have and thereby further exacerbate the homeless situation that we really do have and, for good measure, add to our budget deficit.
I know that you are trying to do the right thing but, in this case, you are merely trying… Very trying…
LTE published PDN 11/22/19
