With budget cuts looming, possibly putting perhaps dozens of Humboldt County employees out of work and depriving county residents of needed services, the county is revving up spending in one place: Fighting its citizens.

Humboldt County recently disclosed that it has spent more than $1.7 million to prevent local families from moving forward with their agricultural plans for some 13,000 acres in southern Humboldt County, commonly known as Tooby Ranch.

And that $1.7 million is just for all the outside lawyers and experts, not to mention all the staff time.

Now, after all that spending and losing the first trial, the county is ready to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars more since it was able to convince an appellate court that the county deserved a second chance -- a retrial.

So convoluted is the county's argument that its core premise today -- that parcels may not be sold off in sizes of less than 600 acres -- wasn't even part of the county's original lawsuit when it began its crusade against its citizens in 2002.

When will this end?

As a former Humboldt County Planning Commission member and someone who was involved in the creation of the state legislation behind this litigation -- the Williamson Act -- I am appalled that our county continues this fight.

The Williamson Act was intended to preserve agricultural land by taxing it on its agriculture productivity. At the time the county made a deal with Arthur Tooby in 1977, its rules were clear -- that the land should remain in agricultural use and any division of the land should be in increments of 160 acres or more, which was the zoning on the ranch at that time.

When a partnership purchased the ranch from the Tooby Estate, it brought new life and new care to the land.

When parcels were sold off, the county was fully aware of it -- even communicating with the new owners about the sales.

But that all changed in late 2002 when the county began its journey toward spending $1.7 million in taxpayers' money to prevent agricultural use of the land.

After filing its initial complaint, the county amended its complaint four months later and claimed that every parcel had to be 600 acres - a decision unilaterally made by the county.

It's important to keep in mind the words of Judge W. Bruce Watson, who presided over the first trial and had these words for the county after the first trial:

”There is no legal or factual support for the county's argument that the Tooby contract can be unilaterally amended by the county via subsequently adopted county resolutions,” Judge Watson wrote.

He also expressed what is perhaps even more critical: “The county could not identify a single parcel that failed to meet this requirement” that the land be used for agriculture.

Indeed, what has happened on the land is exactly what people intended when the Williamson Act was passed to help preserve agricultural land.

Today, cattle are grazing, wine grapes are being grown and olive trees planted. People interested in agriculture have been doing just that -- agriculture. And the only thing standing in their way is the uncertainty the county's lawsuit has cast over the land.

People are naturally reluctant to invest in their land when they know that they could lose it because of the county's action.

Now, the choice before Humboldt taxpayers is this: Do we want to keep spending our tax dollars to prevent people from preserving agriculture land?

At these times when every dollar counts, it is time for the county to resolve this matter once and for all, stop spending on lawyers and let the farmers tend to their crops. The county has grasped for every convoluted legal argument available to it for years. What we need here is common sense and to follow the true spirit of the contract the county itself agreed to in 1977.

The people who have purchased the Tooby land shouldn't be harassed by the county. Instead, they should be applauded for what they are doing -- helping to ensure the agricultural future of our community.

Joe Russ is a fourth-generation Humboldt County resident, rancher and former member of the Humboldt County Planning Commission. He lives in Ferndale.