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 College of Agricultural & Environmental Sciences UGA Cooperative Extension
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Published on 01/22/96

Publication Offers Conservation-Use Tables

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.

Experts/Sources:
Coleman W. Dangerfield Jr.
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