It can be hard for some to realize why they should care about state legislation that could make it easier for the state Game Commission to purchase land.

After all, isn’t making more land available for sportsmen or conservation efforts a good thing? Generally, it is.

But county, school and even city officials have good reason to be wary of making it easier for the game commission to purchase land more easily. Rep. Mandy Steele, D-Cheswick, is circulating a co-sponsorship memorandum seeking support for legislation she is drafting that will lift the cap on the purchase price the Pennsylvania Game Commission can offer when buying land. Currently, that cap is $400 an acre in all counties except a Second Class county.

While City Council member Maurice Cashman had questions whether or not the Game Commission can purchase any land without exceeding the cap, the bigger issue is the Game Commission’s seemingly increasing appetite to purchase land – which then removes the land from the tax rolls.If taxable assessment decreases, the same tax levy by local governments is spread across a smaller group of taxpayers because there are fewer taxpayers to pay for the same amount of taxes the government needs to operate.

An area that is trying to find a way to attract new residents and new businesses has to keep a watchful eye on its tax base.

Losing tax base means finding ways to cut spending, and it’s hard to grow the population or spend money on things to make Warren County more attractive to the outside world when you’re cutting programs in an effort to keep tax rates low enough to prevent further population exodus.

It would be nice to hear the county’s major taxing jurisdictions speak with one voice on such a key issue. Our rural area is the type of area that could find itself the subject of further state Game Commission land purchases. Local government may not be able to do much about the gift of land to the Game Commission, but it should be wary of both Game Commission land expansion or other expansion of non-profits that take property off the tax rolls.

Not all Game Commission land expansion is bad, of course. But it’s not exactly something that should be endlessly encouraged, either.

It’s not a bad thing to by wary of making it easier for land to be taken off the tax roll.