Pence appointed to Land Bank Commission

By Scott Rasmussen
San Juan Journal

1/7/03

San Juan Island, WA - Thom Pence, a Cady Mountain resident and former National Park Service forester, joins the Land Bank Commission after earning the unanimous endorsement of the County Commission.

Pence will serve a four-year term on the advisory panel.

County commissioners last week interviewed four applicants for an opening on the Land Bank’s advisory board. On Jan. 7, they unanimously selected Pence for the role. He replaces Joan Roberts, who resigned after representing San Juan Island for two terms on the commission.

Other candidates were John Crosby, former physicist and a property owner on San Juan Island for 30 years; Beth Helstein, associate librarian at the San Juan Island Library; and attorney Barbara Sharp, who recently moved to San Juan Island from Park City, Utah.

The seven members of the Land Bank Commission serve four-year terms. They help select conservation easements and properties for purchase with funds from the agency’s annual budget, generated primarily by a 1 percent excise tax on local real estate sales.

This year, the Land Bank expects to collect $1.9 million from the excise tax and an additional $1.4 million from grants, conservation futures tax and earnings from interest-bearing accounts, according to the agency’s 2003 budget.

With a beginning balance of $2.9 million, the budget calls for $4.2 million of expenses and an end-of-the-year balance of $1.9 million.