Farmers, foresters, county government officials and tree
harvesters involved with the
Conservation-Use Land Valuation Program should keep an eye on
the calendar.
The 1996 conservation-use (current-use) valuation tables for
land have been completed
by the Georgia Department of Revenue and mailed to county tax
assessors to become
effective Jan. 29.
The county tax assessor must have sign-ups before the
property tax return filing
deadline (March 1 or April 1, depending on the county).
Each year the DOR revises its tables of values for qualifying
conservation-use
property, following guidelines detailed by House Bill 283 (1992-
style) and H.B. 66
(1993-style).
Details of the programs are available in a University of
Georgia Extension Service
publication entitled "Tax Incentives for the Georgia
Landowner." The county
Extension office has Bulletin 1089 for $1 per copy.
The publication discusses the ’91 timber tax law, the ad
valorem tax issues of the new
conservation-use valuation program, the one-time county ad
valorem tax on timber at
harvest or sale for harvest, and the issues of fair market value
and the agricultural
preferential program.
Covenants are between qualified landowners and county
governments. The purpose of the
covenants is to have qualified agricultural and forest lands in
Georgia valued for county
ad valorem taxes based on current conservation use.
The fair market value is the approach normally used.
"The benefit of conservation-use valuation to the
Georgia public is that land is
preserved in farms and forests," says Coleman Dangerfield,
an Extension Service
agricultural economist.
"The result is increased open and green areas for all to
enjoy," Dangerfield
says. "In return for a covenant with the county, the
landowner agrees to maintain the
land in its agricultural or forest use for 10 years."
For qualified landowners, the program offers land value that
reflects farm and forest
uses, Dangerfield says. Current-use valuation may result in a
lower county ad valorem
property tax bill.
The county Extension office has two maps and tables available
in the January
"Forest Resource Notes" newsletter that give the
conservation-use land values.
The county tax assessor also has maps, tables, program
details and sign-up procedures.
One map shows the nine Conservation-Use Valuation Areas by
county with a table
containing values to be used for all 1993-style covenants. The
second map shows the 28
CUVAs by county with a table containing values to be used for
the 13,376 1992-style
covenants.
Tables show the dollars-per-acre values for class 1-9 land,
with 1 being most
productive and 9 being least productive land.
In 1990, the Georgia General Assembly passed House Resolution
836. The resolution
proposed a constitutional amendment to allow, among other
things, the revision of taxation
of agricultural and forest land.
Following approval of Constitutional Amendment No. 3, H.B.
283 became law in 1991. H.B.
283 provided the means for qualifying and valuing agricultural,
forested and
environmentally sensitive land (conservation-use property) under
a current-use concept for
the 1992 tax year.
In 1993, H.B. 66, a technical corrections and clarification
bill, was signed by the
Governor. H.B. 66 allowed for improved means to qualify and
value conservation-use
property for the 1993 tax year and beyond.
