Proposal aims to expand La Pine mosquito control beyond city limits
(Update: Adding video, comments from owner of mosquito vector)
Owner of $200,000 home would pay $80 a year for service
LA PINE, Ore., (KTVZ) -- The city of La Pine conducts a mosquito control service. However, the boundaries for the control area only include the city limits.
Mosquitos lay their eggs in water. When water basins flood, those areas become the bugs' ultimate breeding ground.
The city only sprays within its limits, so the water basins never get treated. That means the source of mosquitoes survives, as the properties adjacent to the city boundary lines aren't treated.
Edward Horvath, director and owner of Three Rivers Mosquito and Vector Control, says without treating the source, the mosquitoes keep coming into the city.
"The city is spraying for mosquitoes, but the mosquitoes don't come from within the city, a very little amount of them do," he said Wednesday. "Most of them are coming from outside the city, so the city sprays their streets every week, and mosquitoes still come in, because there's nothing being done outside to take care of the source."
A group of people are proposing a new mosquito control service that would extend the boundaries. The proposed area includes Burgess Road and extends south to the Deschutes/Klamath County border.
The group wants to hire a private control service that would be funded through property taxes.
The proposed cost is $0.40/$1,000 property value. If your property is assessed at $100,000, you would be charged $40/year. A $200,000 house would pay $80/year. A house appraised at $500,000 would pay $200/year.
The city is spraying 31 miles a week for 10 weeks. Horvath says the proposal would cut this down.
"The whole hope of this is to reduce the mosquitoes, while getting rid of the chemical use, too," he said. "You know, we don't want to start spraying everywhere every day, because that defeats the whole purpose."
Supporters are gathering petition signatures, and if they gather enough, the proposal would go on the November ballot and would take effect in the spring of 2022.
