Gabelein v. Diking District No. 1

¶1 Diking District No. 1 of Island County (District) raises money to maintain its dikes and drainage facilities through annual assessments on benefited property owners within the District. Property owners Raymond and Laurie Gabelein filed suit against the District to challenge the methodology by which the District developed its 2012 benefit assessment roll and calculated the drainage assessment against their property. The trial court ruled that the District failed to properly construe and apply chapter 85.18 RCW in determining the assessment methodology underlying its 2012 benefit assessment…