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.