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McCarthy.
Say Yes
Opposing the petition from the group associated with Lillard and Ralph is a petition from the Rappahannock County Conservation Alliance supporting the proposed Conservation Easement Distinct. According to RCCA board member Alan Zuschlag, this petition was created and circulated for the RCCA by Hal Hunter, in response to the opposition petition.
“We support the two cent tax to support agriculture in this County. Helping farmers to keep farming will help keep our taxes low by slowing development and the demand for County provided and tax funded services, such as more schools,” reads the RCCA petition.
“We felt their petition was one sided,” said Zuschlag. Zuschlag spoke at the June 5 hearing, and supporters of his position believe that preserving farmland in the county will lead to lower taxes in the long term, since less will need to be charged for county services.
Welch and other supervisors have also characterized Conservation Easements as an attempt to lower the taxes of county residents in the long term. County Administrator McCarthy proposed the Conservation Easement District as an alternative to the county’s current program for funding conservation easements, the Farmland Preservation Program, which is funded by rollback taxes rather than direct taxpayer dollars. Rollback taxes are collected when a landowner agrees to use their land only for agriculture, usually for 6-year terms. During those six years, the land is taxed at a lower, agricultural value. If the land is sold, or developed before the six years are up, the land is taxed retroactively at the higher residential value, providing the rollback taxes. This method of funding provided just over a $100,000 to the Farmland Preservation program, which was Combined with funds from other organizations totaling around $700,000' to purchase development rights to 300 acres belonging to Rappahannock’s James Fletcher Massie.
This use of the funds has been repeatedly criticized , even by Planning Commissioner Alvin Henry, who sits on the Farmland Preservation program committee, and rated them at a “C” in performance. It was the perceived inadequacies of the Farmland Preservation Program that prompted McCarthy to propose the Conservation Easement District in the 2007 budget.
The Board of Supervisors are expected to vote on the budget after a second public hearing on Monday, June 26.
Email the reporter at mtayloe@timespapers.com Rappahannock News Staff Writer Charlie Spiering contributed to this report.
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