After months of anticipation, Vashon got the excellent news it has been hoping for: King County has purchased 110 acres of Misty Isle Farms — a remarkable acquisition of a singular public asset.

The land deal took years to accomplish, as advocates and county officials came together to acquire a part of what was once one of the largest private holdings on Vashon — a place, like all large private holdings on Vashon, that was threatened by development and conversion to a different use.

Now, these 110 acres belong to us.

We bought them, with our tax dollars, and a more worthy and valuable purchase for the island ecosystem, as well as our recreational use, can scarcely be imagined.

In the purchase price of $4 million for the acquisition, $1.9 million came from King County’s Conservation Futures levy, funded by property taxes.

In November, Vashon voters will be asked to approve Proposition 1, an increase of the Conservation Future levy rate, from $0.0312, in 2022, to $0.0625 in 2023.

The levy requires a simple majority to pass, and Vashon-Maury Island Land Trust is among the groups endorsing this proposal.

The Conservation Futures program began in 1982, with an intent to use property tax dollars to protect rapidly-disappearing open space, farmland, forests, salmon habitat, and more, throughout the county.

Proposition 1 would accelerate these acquisitions.

In terms of Vashon’s benefit from the program, Vashon has punched above its weight, gaining more than 1,000 acres of public ownership of land and more than 400 acres of easements on the island.

Conservation Futures dollars have been used to help protect incredible places on Vashon — including Maury Island Marine Park, Island Center Forest, Lisabuela Park, Neill Point/Morningside Farm, Camp Sealth, Dockton Forest Park, Frog Holler Forest, Christiansen Pond Natural Area, Maury Island Heron Rookery/Mileta Creek Preserve, Raabs Lagoon Natural Area, Shinglemill Creek Natural Area and many, many more.

Property taxes are a burden. No one disagrees with that.

But islanders should know that the benefits of the Conservation Futures levy are accrued by only a tiny fraction of their property tax bill: $0.0312 per $1,000 assessed value of the $11.27 per $1,000 you pay — or about 0.3%.

Even with the higher rate, and the big bump in assessed values for single-family homes on Vashon for the tax year 2023, the increased property tax levy for Conservation Futures will cost the owner of a Vashon home with an assessed value of $750,000 in 2023, about $47 — less than $4 a month.

Homeowners with annual incomes below about $58,000 who are seniors, persons with disabilities or disabled veterans would be exempted from this tax increase.

The King County Office of Economic and Financial Analysis forecasts that Proposition 1 will increase Conservation Futures tax revenues from about $22.4 million in 2022 to $52.6 million in 2023.

That could protect a lot more land, especially with property values skyrocketing.

Proposition 1’s bump will largely come in 2023, with fairly small, incremental tax increases after that. In future years, the usual statutory limit on levy revenue increases will apply — 1% plus new construction.

Open space is a big part of what makes Vashon Vashon. The island’s rural, verdant setting, teaming with natural wonder, is an important part of why we live here.

Conservation Futures has been a big part of that. Proposition 1 deserves your vote.