Decreases the allowable base percentage change in agriculture assessment value from ten percent to two percent of the preceding year

14 Co-sponsors

• Tony Avella
• John J. Bonacic
• John A. DeFrancisco
• Patrick M. Gallivan
• Terry Gipson
• Joseph A. Griffo
• Kathleen A. Marchione
• George D. Maziarz
• Ted O'Brien
• Thomas F. O'Mara
• Michael H. Ranzenhofer
• James L. Seward
• David J. Valesky
• Catharine Young

BILL NUMBER:S1952

Title of bill

An act to amend the agriculture and markets law, in relation to agricultural assessment values

Purpose

This bill amends the agriculture and markets law in relation to agricultural assessments by reducing the cap on the amount of change that may occur in the value of the base agricultural assessment value from ten percent to two percent of the value of the preceding year.

Summary

Section one amends the agriculture and markets law, section 304-a (g) by reducing the cap in the amount of change in the base agricultural assessment value for any given year from ten percent to two percent of the base agricultural assessment value of the preceding year.

Section two provides the effective date.

Justification

Farmers have been seeing alarming increases in their property taxes for farmland because of increases in their farmland assessments or "agricultural assessments". New York established its agricultural assessment program to keep rising property assessments, particularly in high pressure development areas, from forcing farmers out of business and eroding acres of open, working green space from the State's landscape.

Agricultural assessments have been increasing because the "base rate" per farm acre utilized in the assessment formula - or the starting point for assessing farm land - has been rising. Even under a 2% property tax cap, farmland property taxes can still see significant increases even when the local municipal tax rate stays low. While the tax rate may not increase, the higher assessed values will be the factor that drives farmland property taxes higher until they reach unsustainable levels.

Currently, there is a 10% cap in place which is mitigating extreme and forceful increases in base rate values, but this is only a minor moderation. Agricultural assessments have and are projected to continue to increase above the 10% cap for the foreseeable future and will force many farm families to reconsider their ability to operate in New York State.

As a land-intensive business, New York has one of the highest property tax burdens in the nation which puts the State at a distinct disadvan- tage with other states. The average property tax per farm acre of $26.21 is far higher than the national average of $6.75 per farm acre and even higher than California which is $25.18 per farm acre. A 2% tax cap on annual agricultural assessment increases will keep New York's family farms on their land and maintain the nutritious, high quality local food network that the State's consumers expect.

History

S6609 of 2012 - passed Senate

Fiscal implications

None to State.

Effective date

Immediately.