Farm tax bills expected to grow Many Ohio farmers will see their property taxes take a big jump next year because of imperfections in a formula used to determine farm taxes. For some, those tax bills will double or go up even more. Medina County farmers are no exception. “Our taxes have gone steadily up,” Brian Guccion, farmer and a Sharon Township trustee, said. “They darn near doubled here the last couple of years and put a strain on our operations. “It is going to be hard for us to break even this year.” The reason for the increase is the Ohio Department of Taxation’s program called Current Agricultural Use Value that is designed to make farming financially easier for operators. It calculates with farmland values based on crop yield, soil conditions and market prices. But critics say low interest rates and swings in grain prices are revealing imperfections in the formula and adding up to higher property taxes next year. Most of Ohio’s 75,000 farmers take part in the voluntary program because it saves them thousands of dollars annually, the Columbus Dispatch reported. The formula used by the program is based on a rolling, seven-year average of crop prices, soil values and other measures of farm productivity. The higher bills are based on past performance. John Fitzpatrick, director of the Medina County Farm Bureau, said the formula is not perfect but is fair. “(The raise) just happened to hit at a tough time,” he said. “The last couple of years we have had high commodity values and low interest rates so the farmer is getting a lower yield but still paying higher taxes.” Fitzpatrick said the formula, which is based off agricultural productivity of the land, works well in counties like Medina where the potential of neighborhood development would cause the property taxes to skyrocket. “If it were based solely on the property’s potential, the taxes would be astronomical,” he said. Still, Ohio farmers will be pinching pennies to pay for higher taxes over the next couple of years. Bill Cox, a farmer in Delaware County in central Ohio, said the formula should be adjusted to better reflect current conditions rather than what happened years ago. His property tax will rise from $2,446 to $5,412 next year. “The money we get for our crops this year pays for our taxes next year,” he told The Columbus Dispatch. “If they’ve got a formula, they’ve probably got some third-grader working on it.” The Ohio Farm Bureau, which represents about two-thirds of Ohio farmers, is looking into the situation, said Amy Milam, director of legal education. “We certainly empathize with those members who are alarmed and concerned,” she said. “They’re seeing this higher valuation now, when the farm economy isn’t as good as it was. Some are just wondering if there’s a need to review some of the methods for the formula.”
Posted on: Tue, 07 Oct 2014 13:00:00 +0000
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