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a new high school,” he continued. “It’s a fine high school but it could have been placed somewhere else than on prime productive land.” Noting that the county had already adopted a use value taxation law. Turner reported that Isle of Wight’s 8,300 acre ag district was a direct result of the condemnation action.
“Our farmers acted to protect themselves,” he continued. According to Turner, many Isle of Wight farm families have spent five generations or longer working their land. “They wanted to protect it for agriculture...(formation of an ag district) didn’t limit what they could do with the land in the future but it ensured the farmers they could continue normal farming operations and if that included putting manure on their fields, the farmers had the right to do it. It gave them the future.”
Under an agriculture and forestal district, land is taxed fairly for its use. Turner said. He noted that roll-back taxes are applied for a six-year period ,on land withdrawn from a district. “If the land is , later, developed, the roll-back taxes will help the county absorb the burden of demand for increased services," he said.
Turner said he supported ag districts as a means of combating the switch of productive farm land to nonagricultural uses. “It’s an irreversible trend. Once land goes out of production, it’s nearly impossible to get it back...AH of us are consumers. All of us like new food every year. We may settle for a used car or second-hand clothes but we want new food.”
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