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Opponent Say AFDs
Destroy Solvency
The Rappahannock supervisors heard impassioned pleas for and against use value taxation and agricultural districts as they considered an application for the over 2,500 acre Red Oak district at Monday’s public hearing. . . „ .. . <
Ag districts are “contrary to the general public interest...and in particular, destructive to the fiscal solvency (of Rappahannock County),” charged Robert Eastham. He described the applicants for the Red Oak district as “all honorable men...They just want to save a little money.. .and that’s okay if it doesn’t hurt others and if it doesn’t hurt Rappahannock County.”
(Agricultural and forestal districts may be created by the local governing body upon application by landowners who agree to restrict development on their land for the life of the district, set for four to eight years by decision of that governing body. In return for that commitment, qualifying property within a district becomes eligible for use value taxation. Virginia’s General Assembly passed enabling legislation for ag districts in 1976 as a tool for local governments to use to preserve, protect and encourage agricultural industry.)
Eastham maintained that approval of ag districts has set the county on a “dangerous course.” Land use taxation afforded in the districts will have a negative impact on Rappahannock’s revenue raising ability just when demands for services and improvements to the schools “threaten to explode under our feet,” he said.
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