Agricultural Issues Forum to Address Increased Agricultural Assessments
- Cattaraugus County Agricultural and Farmland Protection Board
- Released: March 27, 2007
Agricultural landowners could see their real property tax bills increase this year with the new per acre agricultural assessment values issued in January by the New York State Office of Real Property Services (NYS ORPS). Local assessors use these values to process applications for agricultural assessments. This year's values are up a startling 34% from 2006. It is the highest value calculated since 1990.
To help agricultural landowners better understand these increased agricultural assessments, the Cattaraugus County Agricultural and Farmland Protection Board invites all those concerned about this issue to an Agricultural Issues Forum on Tuesday, April 10 from 7:30 to 9:30 pm at the Ellicottville American Legion at 6500 Maples Road in Ellicottville.
What will this change mean to farmers and those who rent their land to farmers who are accustomed to receiving a reduction in their real property taxes from agricultural assessment? The change will be different for individual tax parcels because of differences in soils, the parcel's assessed value on the local tax roll, the equalization rate for the taxing jurisdiction, and the size of the local town, county or school tax levy. NYS ORPS considered all these factors and projects that the average increase in tax bills is likely to be in the neighborhood of $2.25 to $2.75 per acre, although it is important to realize that local differences may increase or decrease that range because of the factors mentioned previously.
To learn more about agricultural assessments, how they are calculated, and the Agriculture and Markets Law that authorizes them, go to the Allegany-Cattaraugus Cornell Cooperative Extension web site at: counties.cce.Cornell.edu/allegany_cattaraugus/agriculture/agriculture04.htm
This forum is sponsored in cooperation with the Cattaraugus County Departments of Economic Development, Planning & Tourism and Real Property & GIS Services, the Cattaraugus County Soil and Water Conservation District, and the Cornell Cooperative Extension of Allegany and Cattaraugus Counties.