PA 490 Special Committee Debuts
Town officials agree fair notification for the removal of farmland status makes sense.
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Wayne Cooke said Thursday evening, he learned the farmland status of his property had been revoked on Oct. 1, 2008 only when he received a call from the Office of the Assessor on Jan. 29, 2009. In response to the loss of the farmland status for his property—much of which has been restored—Cooke became an activist and somewhat of a local authority on the matter. When a PA 490 Special Committee convened on Thursday, he expressed his gratitude for it.
“I am enormously grateful for this committee and this meeting,” Cooke said well after the roughly two-hour meeting had begun.
In Connecticut, Public Act 490 allows municipalities to assess farm, forest or open space land based upon its use value rather than its fair market value. As a result, landowners whose property holds PA 490 status pay substantially lower property taxes, while the state maintains an important preservation tool.
Recently, member Richard Greenalch of the Representative Town Meeting asked the legislative body to consider defining a PA 490 policy for the town, and the result was the special committee chaired by David M. Baker that had its first meeting Thursday night.
The findings indicated that, while a broad solution to the provisions of PA 490 as it applies to farmland might not exist at the town level, some clarifications concerning how the provisions are applied might merit review.
“I think it’s clear that an ordinance on farmland would not be effective,” said Town Attorney William Clendenen who, at Baker’s request, had researched the act and the state statutes that govern its farmland provisions—and, so, would supercede local actions—before the meeting began. “I could not find a pre-emptive case on farmland [on the municipal level],” he said.
PA 490 places the determination of farmland status in the hands of a municipality’s assessor, with a landowner or farmer having the right to petition the Commissioner of Agriculture, among others, in the event of a conflict, the town attorney said.
“I don’t know of anyone from Branford that has positioned the Commissioner of Agriculture,” the attorney said.
Baker noted that he had researched the websites of 100 municipalities in the state of Connecticut and found that they lacked local PA 490 policies. What he did find, he said as he showed a piece of paper to the audience, was a websitefor the town of Coventry in Northeastern Connecticut that provides a summary of PA 490 farm and forest exemptions with steps for obtaining the classification.
In addition, Baker agreed with a number of persons at the meeting—the town attorney among them—who said that a process of notification for persons whose farmland status was in jeopardy was fair.
“I agree about notification,” Baker said. “It makes sense.”
“The foundation of all our civil rights come out of property,” attorney Clendenen affirmed.
Cooke noted that if he had had proper notification and the time to remedy his situation prior to the revocation of his farmland status three years ago “none of us would be sitting here.”
Members of the audience, which included farmer Jay Medlyn and also former selectman John Opie, contributed to the discussion, with Opie pointing to what he termed a gray area in the 490 act— this, the amount of acreage on a property that can qualify for farmland status—and Baker noting that the amount of acreage necessary for viable agriculture was among the considerations an assessor was tasked to review.
Baker acknowledged that municipal policies concerning open space considerations, which are among other land uses PA 490 covers, offered more flexibility for discussion at the local level. He said that the committee would ask the full RTM to refer the PA 490 back to the special committee for additional review.
Wayne Cooke
11:02 am on Friday, February 3, 2012
Actually, NONE of our farm status has been restored since the assessor and first selectmen continue to play their games. While the committee appears to be sincere and willing to listen, Town Hall remains as vindictive and dishonest as ever.
EFM
11:27 am on Saturday, February 4, 2012
Wayne, does that mean you have had to pay the higher tax for the last 3 years, or since the issues is in dispute the tax payments are on hold? How does that work? Sorry to hear you are still dealing with this!
Bill Fasula
11:14 am on Friday, February 3, 2012
All homeowners should get fair notification of ANY changes to their assessment.
megmcg
12:31 pm on Friday, February 3, 2012
from http://www.cfba.org/images/resources/complete_490guide_cfba.pdf
"Unlike many tax statutes, PA 490 includes a Declaration
of Policy, which is public policy and therefore must be given
considerable weight in making any decision pertaining to
this public act. Full awareness of the intent and purpose
of PA 490 is essential for those responsible for administration
of the law and for those who want to understand it
properly. This purpose and intent is clearly spelled out
in Section 12-107a of the Connecticut General Statutes,
Declaration of Policy:
(a) that it is in the public interest to encourage the
preservation of farmland, forest land and open space
land in order to maintain a readily available source
of food and farm products close to the metropolitan
areas of the state, to conserve the state’s natural
resources and to provide for the welfare and
happiness of the inhabitants of the state,
(b) it is in the public interest to prevent the forced
conversion of farmland, forest land and open space
land to more intensive uses as the result of economic
pressures caused by the assessment thereof for
purposes of property taxation at values incompatible
with their preservation as such farmland, forest land
and open space land, and
(c) that the necessity in the public interest of the
enactment of the provisions of sections 7-131c and
12-107b to 12-107e, inclusive is a matter of legislative
determination."
Nicole Ball
12:34 pm on Friday, February 3, 2012
Patch notes clarification: "Mr. Cooke is correct. His farmland status has not as yet been restored, in spite of an agreement last May concerning its restoration on one parcel of roughly 20 acres."
megmcg
12:41 pm on Friday, February 3, 2012
Also:
"Role of Assessor: CGS Section 12-107(c) states that
the local assessor is charged with determining what will or
will not qualify as PA 490 farmland. This determination
should be done in a fair and equitable manner within the
statutory requirements giving due consideration to the
intent and purpose of the law. The assessor should be
certain that an application is completed in full and signed
and dated by the landowner(s).
......
Persons wanting to classify land under the PA 490 farmland
classification must do so by application to the assessor
in the town in which the land is located. The application
must be made on form M-29 “Application to the Assessor
For Classification of Land as Farmland” (Appendix B),
which is prescribed by the Commissioner of the Department
of Agriculture. The form is available from the
municipality's assessor’s office.
The M-29 application must be made between
September 1st and October 31st. During the year of
re-evaluation in the town, the application may be made
from September 1st until December 30th.
In completing form M-29, the landowner should be
prepared to supply the number of acres in each land
category as shown in the PA 490 Land Classes table in
Section 4 of this Guide and in Appendix D. The recommended
values per land class will then be applied to the
associated acreages to derive at a total assessment."
megmcg
4:56 pm on Friday, February 3, 2012
Don't you have to wait for a grand list to be published?
SolarPete
8:38 am on Saturday, February 4, 2012
3 months to call him sounds like they wanted to wait till the next year before letting the cat out of the bag. I'm wonder if no one informed the state would this be illegal? Does the state need to know they have lost farm land or was Branford wanting to be the first town on record to by-pass the laws. I'm also wondering Y if the town said they would grant some of the property back to farm land by has not done so because as they put it he filed the wrong time, sounds fishy to me and maybe the state needs to get involved in the back room meetings that had done this
Wayne Cooke
8:57 am on Saturday, February 4, 2012
Pete...Do you think the Connecticut Supreme Court called DaRos and his administration dishonest for no reason?
jeff
9:31 am on Saturday, February 4, 2012
What I don't get is- if town hall is dishonest,and vindictive,then why aren't these folks under investigation,or in jail? Obviously there's been lots of attention brought to this subject.And with all due respect-isn't parking and taking up 2 parking spots in front of town hall,and blasting music while driving around vindictive? Just wondering....
Wayne Cooke
10:42 am on Saturday, February 4, 2012
RE: if town hall is dishonest,and vindictive,then why aren't these folks under investigation,or in jail?
RESPONSE: DaRos and his administration were found guilty of abuse of power, acting in bad faith, and civili rights violations--and called dishonest by the Connecticut Supreme Court. They continue to engage in similar behavior, lie about current and past corruption, and people--like you, Jeff--buy into it. Short of another expensive civil lawsuit, what sort of investigation would you recommend, particularly when you ignore the facts already in front of you?
RE: isn't parking and taking up 2 parking spots in front of town hall,and blasting music while driving around vindictive?
RESPONSE: No....actually that's called freedom of speech (and expression), guaranteed by the United States Constitution.
Wayne Cooke
11:51 am on Saturday, February 4, 2012
We are being billed at the higher rate, but because of $80,000+ in attorneys fees--to date--we have not been able to pay even a fraction of what the town claims we owe. And, all unpaid amounts are accruing 18% interest.
Mary Michaels
10:39 am on Sunday, February 5, 2012
http://www.cfba.org/images/resources/towns_with_490_open_space_classification.pdf
David Baker - is this what you were looking for - a list compiled by the CT Farm Bureau of towns with PA490 Open Space Classification ?