The Trust that Protects the Land of Schoharie County, Part II

JEFFERSON — The Schoharie Land Trust was created in 1990 to help preserve agricultural, scenic, forested, natural, recreational and open spaced land. It was organized by Co-chairmen Bob Smith and Karl Westphal, as well as Kenneth Hotopp, Mary O’Donnell and other residents. Today the trust protects 30 land parcels totaling 3276 acres.

We interviewed Schoharie Land Trust President Andrew Mason about its history and operations. We continue the interview from last edition.

- For what type of landowner is this trust most beneficial?

It's definitely people who, as I described earlier, want to protect their land in the future. So it's people who may have lived on the land all their life, and so it is important to them that it will be protected. Or it is people who recognize the importance of conservation of land.

And that is their philosophy is to protect the environment, and they want to do that with their own land. We don't really go out looking for land. People come to us. Hopefully, people know we're available, that we're a resource protecting land, and they come to us.

There are the tax benefits which are a little bit of a sweetener for people, but they're not so big that I think people do this just for the tax benefits. They do it because they think it's the right thing to do.

- Maybe it is also useful for farmers. Because they can farm the land.

Yes. Some farmers do sell off their farms to developers. That is not an uncommon thing that has happened quite a bit in the past, especially a farmer who is having trouble financially, making a go of it. So it does benefit farmers because they get this tax benefit.

But again, looking to the future, they may think, well, the time may come when I have to sell this land and break it up to survive, or sell pieces off just to pay their taxes. So, you know, again, it depends on the mindset of the farmer, and also, maybe, how successful the farmers are. For example, in the Schoharie Valley, there is flat, excellent farmland, and those farmers, they are doing well. We don't have any easements on that farmland because they don't really need it.

The farms that we do have easements on are the ones up in the hills, and they are smaller and harder to farm. They have limited land that can be cultivated, with more forests and hills. So they are more financially struggling, perhaps. So those farms, I think, are more likely to be interested in a conservation easement.

- Is there anything done to increase the tax break?

That would require an act of the legislature. The legislature is the ones who put this tax rebate in place some years ago.

And, I haven't heard of any move to increase that tax cut. The money comes from the state. The people still pay their local taxes, so the local towns and schools still get their full tax payment.

But then when the landowner goes to do their state income taxes, that is when they get the rebate. So the money comes, not from the local government, but from the state government. So it is the state that has to fund this tax rebate program. So it would have to be the state that would increase the cut.

I think the fear is more that if the state gets in financial trouble as they do occasionally, that they might do away with the tax cut. But so far, it's been in place for about 20 years now. It seems to be pretty well entrenched.

The state, by and large, encourages conservation easements. Because, when the state wants to take land and turn it into a park, a preserve of some sort and protect it that way. That is controversial because it requires, basically, taking people's land away. They get paid for it, but they may not have a choice. The government often does not pay local taxes for preserved land. So the local municipalities are also not happy.

But, with conservation easements, the land is still under the landowner's control. They still pay their local taxes. So it is a way of protecting land that still keeps it active. The easements do allow logging and agriculture.

They allow uses that don't damage the land. It is just a more benign way of protecting the land rather than the government taking it over. So I think the government likes the arrangement with the land trusts and the easements.

- Do you know of any tax breaks for land, besides the one for the conservation easement?

Farmers have opportunities to reduce their taxes. Agricultural land is assessed for tax purposes at a lower rate than residential land or commercial land. So that is a break they got. And if they are in an agricultural district, Schoharie County has several, that also reduces their taxes. So there are benefits for farmers.

For regular landowners, there are tax breaks for senior citizens. There are tax breaks for firefighters or first responders. Tax breaks for veterans. Most towns give a tax break, not completely free of taxes, but they get a reduction.

Not for profit organizations such as ours, we do not have to pay taxes on land they own. In addition to the conservation easements, we own 3 or 4 parcels of land that we protect and we do not have to pay taxes on them because we are non-profit. Other groups like that also don't have to pay local school taxes and property taxes.

- In your opinion, do you think people use these tax breaks or maybe not enough?

Do they know about them? I think people generally do. The government sort of makes an effort to publicize them. And, I think pretty much everyone that is eligible uses that.

I imagine most farmers take advantage of the tax breaks that they can have. There is also another tax break for farmers, which is not land taxes, so that they do not have to pay sales tax on farm equipment or farm related purchases. So that is quite a savings for them. So, I think most people are aware of and take advantage of those tax breaks.

- Is there something you can suggest to ease the tax burden on landowners, farmers?

Well, one thing will be to just change the method of taxation. Changing it to either increasing the sales tax or increasing income tax. Which are the other two main ways that the government raises money.

Some localities do have a local income tax, for example, NYC, and I think one or two municipalities downstate. But that is something that has to be allowed by the legislature. The state has to give them permission to put an income tax in place.

So, it is possible it could happen. But, people will react to any new tax. So if, for example, Schoharie County said, well, we are going to put an income tax in place, there would be an uproar, even when they reduce the property taxes by an equal amount.

I think people would just be upset.

- And also the renters probably will be very unhappy.

That's right.

It would help some people, and it would hurt some people. It would help the landowners. But, people that live in an apartment, they would get some benefit out of it because their landlords would be paying less property tax. And that would presumably reduce their rent somewhat. But it would be a complicated change.