JMRPWG agenda 102898 - Laserfiche WebLink

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program and have offers pending to purchase agricultural easements . If Orange County were to establish an easement acquisition program and begin accepting offers for the purchase of development rights, it would be eligible to receive matching funds from the Farmland Protection Program . To match the funds from the Farmland Protection Program, Orange County should consider designating $ 200, 000 in the Capital Improvements Program for easement acquisition . The rationale for such funding is that it represents the use of deferred use-value tax payments to support an easement acquisition program. Information gathered from tax records shows that since 1991 , over 111000 acres have been released from use-value taxation, with deferred tax payments exceeding $ 935 , 000 . Over the last three years, payments have exceeded $200 , 000 annually . If these deferred tax payments are recognized as revenue from farmland conversion, funding established in the Capital Improvements Program would save farmland . A new State-level program is the Parks and Recreation Trust Fund The Fund comes froma a percentage of a land transfer tax established by the General Assembly. It is expected to yield i = $ 12413 million annually, with 60 percent going to the State park system, 35 percent to local park systems, and five percent to the beach access program. Grants are in the form of a cash- only match to local governments of up to $250, 000 for land acquisition, development or renovation. ` Another source of funding created by the N. C . General Assembly in 1996 is the Clean Water Management Trust Fund . Reserved to the Fund is 6 . 5 percent of the unreserved credit balance remaining in the General Fund at the end of each fiscal year. The Clean Water Management Trust Fund may be used for a variety of related purposes aimed at upgrading surface L - .-i water by eliminating pollution and protecting unpolluted surface waters . State agencies, local governments, and nonprofit corporations, whose purpose is to conserve, preserve, and restore North Carolina ' s environmental and natural resources, are eligible to apply for assistance . 1 . s Using Market Forces . Limited development refers to the development of the less sensitive portion of a property in order to finance the protection of the more environmentally sensitive areas . The undeveloped areas are usually placed under a conservation easement or held in fee by the land trust, another conservation organization or a government agency. Interim Financing . Land trusts frequently need to buy a property before they have raised the money to acquire it . To do so, they must have access to quick financing which they are able to obtain in a number of ways . A revolving fund is a fund that the land trust maintains at or above a certain level so it always has acquisition money available . The money from the fund may be spent frequently, but it is replaced through fundraising or income from transactions . Stewardship - Taking Care of the Land Acquisition is only the first step in land protection, A land trust must q Y p p glue serous consideration to the future of all its land and easements and make its capacity for long-term stewardship one of the major criteria in evaluating projects . 14 _ ;