Back in business: Commissioners revive Conservation Collier

Collier County will free up $17 million to once again start buying up pockets of conservation land.

County commissioners voted 3-2 Tuesday to restart the Conservation Collier program, which had raised more than $150 million through a special tax over 11 years to buy and set aside thousands of acres of preserve land before sunsetting in 2013.

Commissioners plan to bring back the special tax starting next year to pay for the program in what would be a property tax hike of 25 cents per $1,000 of taxable value. Commissioners won’t set next year’s tax rate until they finalize the county’s annual budget in September.

In the meantime, commissioners will use money from a $35 million trust fund — up to $17 million of it — that had been set aside for the maintenance of preserve land to buy up and create more of it.

Any money taken from the trust fund over the next year to buy more land would be paid back from the money raised from the tax hike.

The move allows the county to start aggressively pursuing wetlands and wildlife habitat for the first time since 2010, said Commissioner Burt Saunders, who proposed bringing back the program.

“The good news is that the program has been restarted effective immediately,” Saunders said. “We’re not waiting for the next budget cycle, which is important because I think waiting on something like this is not in the best interest of citizens.”

Commissioners will ask voters during the November 2018 election in a referendum if they want to keep the special tax for 10 years to fund Conservation Collier. If voters turn it down, commissioners will remove the tax, Saunders said.

Commissioners Bill McDaniel and Andy Solis voted against the proposal, saying the county should wait until residents can vote on the referendum before raising the tax.

“We haven’t even had a chance yet to set a budget,” McDaniel said. “We haven’t had a chance to really discuss what our priorities are as a board. I understand we have north of $100 million of deferred maintenance on things that need to be repaired, but we’re already talking about raising taxes for this.”

The Conservation Collier program has proven to be popular with voters, McDaniel said.

“What’s the rush?” he said. “Why not wait until we can bring this to voters?”

The program was created in 2002 after voters approved a straw ballot in support of it. Residents overwhelmingly voted again in 2006 to extend the tax to 2013.

Conservation Collier built 19 preserves, including the Gordon River Greenway and Pepper Ranch in Immokalee, adding public access points, trails and stewardship programs.

Commissioners stopped buying land for the program in 2010, during the height of the recession, to put more money aside in reserves to fund the continual maintenance of the properties.

The program was sold to voters with the promise that the money raised from the tax would fund their maintenance in perpetuity. With $35 million set aside earning interest, the county believes the trust fund is now self-sufficient for the foreseeable future.

But there are still environmentally important properties out there that the county didn’t buy before putting a halt on acquisitions, said Nancy Payton, of the Florida Wildlife Federation.

“There are unfinished projects that we’ve been waiting to see completed since 2010,” Payton said. “That includes wetlands in north Golden Gate Estates that are going to be important for firebreaks, flood control and maintaining water-table levels for everyone who is on wells out there. There’s land northwest of Immokalee Road and in North Belle Meade that I hope we’ll see go forward now.”

After waiting for seven years, it is vital to see the land-buying program move forward immediately, Payton said.

“It takes awhile for these things to go through the evaluation process and eventually get to the purchase phase,” Payton said. “It may take years before we see anything actually get bought. But this still sends a message that Conservation Collier is back in business."