COM 0024.020 2012-2014 - Laserfiche WebLink

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May 29, 2014 Page 2 of 2 one additional method of property valuation—the income approach. That Task Force recommendation is now before the Council in the form of bill to accordingly amend the County Code. The Task Force's current track is to focus first on agriculture related issues, then residential- homeowners issues, then commercial and other significant categories. We would prefer to bring any related bills or resolutions to the Council in bundles of related legislation, rather than piece meal. With respect to the real property tax programs that provide relief for agricultural activities on agriculturally zoned land, the Task Force has focused on how to handle the Dedicated (Code § 19-60) and Non-Dedicated (Code § 19-57) Agricultural use programs. The Department reported that the Dedicated Agricultural use program is working well (under 1000 participants; loss in tax revenue is approximately 2.6 million). On the other hand, the Department reported that the Non- dedicated Agricultural use program, as currently structured, is relatively lax and allows for abuse (10,666 participants; loss in tax revenue is approximately 28.3 million). The Task Force is looking at various options to revise this program and allow time for those within the program to bring their agricultural operations into alignment with the program criteria. The Task Force has informally adopted a Statement of Task Force Goals, but has not yet been formally approved. A copy of that Statement of Goals will be provided to the Council. In summary this Task Force aims to address the most problematic issues in order to bring recommendations to the Council before the end of this Council term. As a Co-Chair, I conclude by saying the obvious, that if we are able to eliminate abuses and establish more effective enforcement mechanisms, we hopefully, in the not so distant future, have the option of proposing reduced tax rates in light of having addressed the most prominent loopholes in the County's current real property tax program. Resp ctfull 1 su•mitted, Margaret Wille, Co-Chair Real Property Tax Stakeholders' Task Force