Isle of Wight County has garnered national recognition for its rural landscape preservation program. The National Association of Counties has named the rural economic development program the “best overall program” in the country, reports the Daily Press.
What’s so special? Isle of Wight has $2.2 million, and plans to add $500,000 a year to the pot, to purchase conservation easements from county farmers. The goal is to preserve 2,000 acres by 2010. The plan benefits farmers, who get to pocket some cash and enjoy lower taxes on their land. The plan benefits the county because it provides financially hard-pressed farmers an alternative to selling off chunks of their land to pay the bills. When that land is developed, it puts financial pressure on the county to extend services to the people who move there. Purchasing the easements helps the county avoid those costs.
A committee will review applications and make recommendations to the Board of Supervisors, which will make the final decision on which easements to purchase.
I’m wondering if this might provide an attractive alternative to the state practice of granting tax credits to landowners who bequeath conservation easements. Financially, a tax credit differs little from an outright purchase of the easement — money still comes out of the state’s pocket. The virtue of the Isle of Wight approach is that a committee evaluates the alternatives and, presumably, ranks them according to the county’s priorities.
Frankly, I’m not sure how the state conservation easement program works, now that the General Assembly has capped the value of tax credits that can be granted in any given year. Are landowners granted the easements on a first-come, first-serve basis, with unfunded requests carried over to the next year? Does anyone in the state formally review and rank the requests according to the state’s priorities? Inquiring minds want to know.
