Benton County Fights Back Against Sunnyside’s Road Grab
Local leaders successfully blocked a petition for an independent highway district that would have taxed Benton County landowners to pay for Sunnyside's infrastructure.
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While no vote was taken at the meeting held in Hanford on Monday evening to discuss the independent highway district proposed by Sunnyside residents, it is safe to presume the sentiment was unanimously against the district. Close to fifty residents of White Bluffs and Hanford, along with representatives from Kennewick and Prosser, met to hear County officials. County Attorney Geo. O. Beardsley pointed out that the petition's boundaries would place the bulk of the voting population in Sunnyside, while 75 percent of the taxed land would be in Benton County. Upon the advice of Attorney Beardsley, the commissioners rejected the petition as illegal and insufficient, ordering it returned to its makers. The meeting concluded with a commitment from all Benton County communities to organize in opposition to further attempts, focusing instead on a north-south highway connecting White Bluffs and Hanford to the Yellowstone trail.
“Instead of condemning Sunnyside for trying to put over the independent district we really owed them a vote of thanks for being responsible for providing the opportunity for all of the districts, communities and factions in Benton County to get together.”
This 1925 infrastructure fight mirrors ongoing regional tensions over how transportation tax dollars are allocated and who controls the purse strings for inter-city corridors. The struggle to prevent tax-burdened 'districts' from being governed by distant municipalities remains a staple of local civic advocacy in the Columbia Basin.
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