Reassessments shock hundreds of farmers

Farmers are questioning the values placed by the company doing the reassessment.
By LAURE CIOFFI
VINDICATOR NEW CASTLE BUREAU
NEW CASTLE, Pa. -- It's going to be a tough year for corn and soy bean farmers Jim and Rob Yost if the reassessed value on their 500-acre farm stands.
"I don't see how I can afford to pay the taxes. My assessment went from hundreds of dollars per acre to thousands of dollars per acre," said Rob Yost, whose farm spans over southern Lawrence and northern Beaver counties.
County officials say preliminary values released for countywide reassessment of property show an average increase of about 1,000 percent in land values from the previous reassessment done in 1966.
For farmers in this largely rural county, it's something of a shock. The county counts agriculture as its No. 1 industry, and according to the Pennsylvania Agricultural Statistical Service, the county has 805 farms on a total of 93,000 acres.
Those farmers are just now learning about a state program that could help keep their taxes under control as long as they don't use their property for residential development.
Clean and Green Act: The Pennsylvania Farmland and Forest Land Assessment Act, better known as the Clean and Green Act, will give those with 10 or more acres who apply a break on taxes. It would base the land's assessment on what the land is worth to farm, not it's value as potential residential development, said Bill Chess of the Penn State University Extension Office in Lawrence County.
Chess has been meeting with farmers throughout the county since preliminary fair market values went out to property owners last month to explain the state program.
Lawrence County farmers saw no need to participate in the program before reassessment because they were often given preferential treatment on assessment because of the land's agricultural use, Chess said.
Placing values: Manatron Sabre Systems, the company Lawrence County officials hired to do the countywide reassessment, placed dollar values on property based on market value, not the use, as farmers would prefer, said Steve Raffa, the company's Lawrence County project manager.
"It really depends on what township the land is located. Naturally if it's a high demand area where there is a lot of building going on, it will be higher. ... The Clean and Green program is going to be the savior for the farmers in those areas," he said.
Most Pennsylvania counties that have had property reassessment since the 1970s participate in the program, said Mike Pechart, director of local government programs for the Pennsylvania Farm Bureau.
"Farmers get their tax bills and are blown out of their seats. The changes are pretty major. What farms in the state do is turn to Clean and Green. It brings the assessed value back down to a value that reflects what's going on, which is agriculture," he said.
Appeals: While Lawrence County farmers are looking into the program, they are still questioning the values placed by Sabre Systems, and many have appealed the preliminary market values set by the company.
"People with farms on two or three parcels don't see consistency. They feel they are being assessed as development ground and not agricultural," said JoAnn McCready of the Lawrence County Conservation District.
Rob and Jim Yost say they see the same problem with their property.
Rob Yost, who along with his father Jim, has continually added new parcels to their 500-acre farm in New Beaver Borough and Little Beaver Township over the years, said his family just wants to be assessed at the same value of the neighboring farms.
One parcel of their property containing about 246 acres was valued at $1,638 per acre, while abutting farms had per acre values of about $900 per acre, they said.