Land-use taxation program ‘re-validated’ unanimously

By Jeremy Borden

Published: May 14, 2008

Albemarle County supervisors unanimously decided Wednesday to take a step they say would “re-validate” a program that allows rural area landowners to defer a hefty portion of their real-estate tax bill in exchange for keeping their land undeveloped.

A majority of the six-member board also agreed to look at changing the tax-deferral program more substantially. Supervisors Lindsay G. Dorrier Jr. and Kenneth C. Boyd voted against that step.

While the board agreed to re-validate the land-use taxation program, supervisors differed greatly on whether the program needs more substantial revision. Under re-validation, the county would send out letters and forms to rural area landowners to prove that they are farming, harvesting trees, or doing other rural-area activities that qualify them for the program. It’s the first time Albemarle has taken such a step after supervisors in 2001 decided not to pursue a similar validation.

Exactly what the re-validation process will entail will be decided after a June public vetting.

The land-use taxation program is an emotionally charged issue for farmers and rural area landowners, many who say the program keeps farming alive in Albemarle and the county’s pristine views uncluttered by development. It allows landowners to defer taxes on undeveloped land, while paying full taxes on their home and surrounding 2 acres. Sixty percent of county acreage is in the program, amounting to $18.8 million in deferred taxes this year. That compares with $7.2 million in deferred taxes in 2001.

Supervisors say the issue has come to a head recently because of the decreasing tax revenues in a dwindling economy, and a growing number of urban area residents who say they are subsidizing the few to the detriment of the many.

Proponents say that Albemarle’s farming community and pristine, undeveloped land could disappear if the tax deferral program is done away with. They’d be forced to sell because they wouldn’t be able to afford the taxes, several said after the meeting.

The gap in opinion between supervisors is perhaps best exemplified between the gulf between Boyd and David L. Slutzky. Boyd says the program works well and doesn’t need revision, while Slutzky has advocated that supervisors consider only allowing the program to be open to those who put their land into a conservation easement, which forever, under any future property owner, restricts development on the land.

Supervisor Dennis S. Rooker is somewhere in the middle. He emphasized that no one on the board wants to do away with the program completely.

Proposals to change the program would “set the bar a little bit higher,” Rooker said. Under proposals the board will consider at a future date, a landowner would have to sign an agreement that he will not develop the land for a period of time, between four and 10 years. Currently, there is land in the deferral program that is located in the county’s development areas, and some are looking to simply flip the land for a profit, Rooker said. The county should not subsidize those who do so, he said.

Carl Tinder, the president of the Albemarle Farm Bureau, said he supports re-validation, but doesn’t believe supervisors should make the program more restrictive.

“You’re tying the hands of those who own the property,” Tinder said. “They have no other option but to sell the whole thing [without land-use].” Tinder said that speculators are already penalized because they have to pay back-taxes for the five previous years if they sell the land for development.

Supervisor Sally H. Thomas, who has her land in the tax-deferral program, said many are claiming they are using their land for agricultural purposes when the use is minimal. For example, a landowner can pay someone to cut their grass, which can be used for animal feed.

“That’s not really farming,” Thomas said. “That’s the abuse I think is taking place. The public deserves that conversation.”