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BOC to consider minimum acreage on conservation use

Posted by

Zach Mitcham

in News, Top Stories

Friday, December 19. 2008

Comments (7)

Madison County commissioners will again consider setting a minimum acreage requirement for those applying for conservation use status for their land.

Chief Appraiser James Flynt told the board of assessors Monday that the BOC has agreed to include the matter on its Dec. 22 agenda..

Conservation status allows landowners to be taxed at a much lower rate than other property owners if their land is used for agricultural purposes.

But tax officials have often noted that many small tract owners who have conservation status don’t do any actual farming.

Flynt appeared before the BOC in September to urge the board to set a minimum acreage requirement on conservation properties.

“I’m in favor of it (the conservation use law),” said Flynt in September. “It benefits the farmers in our community. But it has become hard to administer and there are a lot of abuses across the state.”

Earlier this year, the board of assessors recommended a minimum of 15 acres for conservation use status in Madison County. Flynt said Monday that he believes there may be support for a 10-acre minimum.

“There seems to be some consensus for 10 acres,” said Flynt.

In other action Monday, the board of assessors agreed to release a Madison County property owner from his conservation use contract due to health reasons. The board also met in closed session to discuss personnel, then voted 3-2 to accept Regina Coker’s resignation as the secretary at assessor board meetings.

Defined tags for this entry: assessors, BOC, conservation, News, taxes, Top Stories

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#1 Anonymous on 12/20/08 at 09:15 PM [Reply]

They need to wait and discuss this when we have the new commissioners in place instead of the lame ducks the voters booted off.

#2 small_landowner on 12/21/08 at 11:01 PM [Reply]

It says that "many" small tract properties don't do any farming. But that means that clearly some, perhaps "many" are! So why penalize those people for the abuses of others? There are rules on the books that require small and large tracts to prove agricultural use. So, enforce the existing rules.

We all know there are at least a couple of very large property owners who have gotten special treatment regarding conservation use. Why do the fat cats get special treatment, and the small owners who ARE farming are about to get swept away with the people who are breaking the rules ONLY because they have smaller tracts than the fat cats?

#3 Anonymous on 12/23/08 at 07:19 AM [Reply]

Yes, there are many "fat" cats getting special treatment but there are also people within this county with less than 10 acres on this program too.
The entire conservation program was designed to help property owners that farmed their land each year. The government wanted to give them a break on their property taxes. Unfortunately, you have people taking advantage of the system and applying for the program and have no intentions of farming the land, they basically want a tax reduction.
I have researched this program and the tax savings that you receive on less than 10 acres is very minimal verses a 25++acre tract.
I think this program could and is a program that could help our community but the bottom line is----YOUR JUST SHIFTING THE TAX BURDEN....to me.

#4 bodawg on 12/23/08 at 06:57 PM [Reply]

It just seems like the tax assessors are lazy and do not want to look at each application and give it the consideration needed to make the decision based on the state law. If under 10, just say no. How many chicken houses can you put on 9 acres....at least 6. How much organic farming can you do on under 10 acres...a lot. How many trees can you harvest on under 10 acres....tons... This is just another way to raise revenue without work....Just say no!
The state set guidelines within the law...These lazy guys want to raise our taxes...After all the developers want to have Madison county as a county of under 10 or 5 acres anyway...

#5 bodawg...PS on 12/23/08 at 07:01 PM [Reply]

The vote last night was a done deal because they did not make a vote or even discuss this issue last meeting. They just looked at each other. This time it came up and wham....pass. Tell me they did not discuss or call each other this week to line up the votes. They say noone goes to the meetings....what is the use when they have made up their minds before the meeting or anyone speaks on it...The county attorney allready had the language printed up for 10 acres before the meeting...woops not suppose to know that.

#6 Anonymous on 12/24/08 at 12:46 AM [Reply]

You don't have to change the rules to fix the problem of people not using the land for agricultural use and yet they are getting conservation status. If the land is being used for something other than approved agricultural purposes, the land can be taken out of conservation status and penalties and back-taxes charged to the landowner. These rules are already in place - there is absolutely no need to alter the minimum acreage - the rules apply to all sizes of tracts. Enforce the rules as they exist. Making more rules accomplishes nothing, achieves nothing, and only penalizes smaller tract owners who ARE farming by discriminating against small, intensive farmers and giving breaks to large, corporate farms. No need to keep stomping on the small farmer.

#7 Anonymous on 12/24/08 at 05:52 PM [Reply]

I was about to apply for conservation status on my 6 acres. I just bought 10 addl. acres I'm adding on, so this will help me out. Thanks, BOC!

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