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35 Page 2 farmland preservation report January 2002 Adjusting offers on income called problematic (Continued from page 1) the Virginia Outdoors Foundation, which holds the easements. In Clarke, 10,603 acres are preserved and in Loudoun, 11,548. Like Clarke and Albemarle, Fauquier is de- veloping an easement program that seeks to ex- clude farms that could donate easements, but in place of an income test, is targeting an area of the county where dairy and crop farms predominate. Basing easement offers on a property's sup- posed ability to donate easement value could jeop- ardize a program's outlook, according to some ex- perts. Mary Heinricht, Mid- Atlantic Field Director for the American Farmland Trust (AFT), said a widely held belief in the region that public funds should exclude landowners perceived to be well - off, is driving the income -test approach. "There is a real concern that if they started purchasing easements on these types of operations, that donations would decrease." Bob Wagner, director of Field Programs and Land Protection for AFT, said he would want to encourage Clarke County to start a program, but would also like "to help them see the issues before- hand ... I think that discounting the offer price can be real problematic. While attempting to reduce the benefit to those who need it least, you run the risk of creating a disincentive for successful farm- ers as well." Wagner pointed out that some state and local programs focus program goals on full -time, suc- cessful farms through point systems and ranking methods that include consideration of income or investment in farm infrastructure. The Maryland program historically has en- couraged participation of higher- income properties through the bidding system, in which the land- owner can bid low, be paid for part of the value of the easement, and gain tax benefits for the portion of value that is donated through "bargain sale." "Clearly, in Virginia, there are many [farms] considered well -off. But there are very successful farmers out there too. You would want them to par- ticipate," Wagner said. Tom Daniels, planning professor at the State University of New York and former director of the Lancaster County (Pa.) Agricultural Pre - serve Board, said the Lancaster program didn't take off "until we did a deal with a leading farm family — a top producing, diversified operation. This is the irony of the PDR thing. If you can get your leading farmers to participate, it's tre- mendous advertising, because it's understood to be a business decision." "The Albemarle approach is much more risky," Daniels said. "The thing to keep in mind is whether you are trying to preserve the land or the farmer ... why should you pay a guy with 250 acres who's milking 70 cows and just get- ting by, and discourage the farmer who is mak- ing $100,000 a year and is a good manager? It's going to create a lot of bad feeling in the farm community." The Lancaster County program considers an applicant's income level in its points -based appraisal formula, but the factor is weighted at just 10 percent of the overall score, Daniels said. But according to Ches Goodall, adminis- trator for the Albemarle program, higher - income farms can make up for the discounted offer by taking advantage of tax benefits. "The program has had some detractors," Goodall said. "Some wealthy property owners said their property is just as worthy for preser- vation as others." They can still participate and receive a certain percent of the appraised value. Besides, he said, "some balance below the 100 percent value is best for tax benefits" The proposed Clarke County program, before the county board in February, would use a point system to prioritize applicants, requiring a minimum of 75 points from a total of 100 to participate. Fifty points are derived from the county's Land Evaluation and Site Assessment (LESA) system, and fifty points are based on natural, scenic and historic resource factors. The county expects to pay between $1000 and $3000 per acre. The proposal recommends establishing a (Continued on page 3)