Natural Resource Inventory and Assessment - Town of Guilford

APPENDIX H-3
Public Act 490 Preferential Tax Assessment Program
In 1963, the Connecticut General Assembly passed what is commonly referred to as Public Act 490, a
preferential tax assessment program. (Note: The term, “P.A. 490”, is used herein for familiarity, but the statute
was codified under the Connecticut General Statutes (CGS) Section 12-107e years ago.) The purpose of this
program is stated in the Declaration of Policy:
(a) that it is in the public interest to encourage the preservation of farm land,
forest land and open space land . . .(b) that it is in the public interest to prevent
the forced conversion of farm land, forest land and open space land to more
intensive uses as the result of economic pressures caused by the assessment
thereof for purposes of property taxation at values incompatible with their
preservation as such farm land, forest land and open space land…
It should be noted that P.A. 490 was updated with the passage of P.A. 04-115 in May, 2004.
The P.A. 490 program uses include land owned by a private party (or non-tax exempt organization) that is
assessed as farm, forest, or open space land under the Public Act 490 program. Land participating in this
program is not dedicated open space since it could be sold or developed at some future date. Dedicated open
space land is typically owned by a public or tax-exempt entity.
The P.A. 490 program reduces the assessment of parcels that meet certain criteria so that an increasing tax
burden would be less of a factor in the sale and development of property. This program ends upon sale of the
property. Since farmland, forest land, and open space land do not generate residents and school enrollments,
a modest fiscal surplus results for the Town. Many farmers feel it has saved farmland’s future. The Town
Assessor maintains that peripheral benefits accrue to the Town as a whole from the P.A. 490 designated land:
all enjoy the resulting scenic amenity and value is added to surrounding properties – while the Town provides
no services for this “vacant” (i.e. un-built) land.
According to the Town Assessor, 10,180.65 acres 1, approximately 33 percent of the land in Town, currently
receives preferential tax relief under Connecticut’s Public Act 490 as forested land, farmland, or “open space”
(each of these three categories of land have statutory definitions.)
• Total acreage of farmland under P.A. 490: 2,838.61
• Total acreage of forestland under P.A. 490: 5,676.57
• Total acreage of open space under P.A. 490: 1,665.47
Farmland
The Town Assessor is authorized by state statute to determine land’s eligibility for classification as farmland
under the P.A. 490 Program 2. The Assessor must take into account, among other things, the acreage of such
land, the portion of the land in actual use for farming or agricultural operations, the productivity of the land,
the gross income derived from the land, the nature and value of the equipment used in connection with the
farming activity, and the extent to which the tracts comprising such land are contiguous.
The Town Assessor’s use definition for farm use is:
an agricultural unit, including land and improvements, presently used primarily for
the cultivation of the soil, dairying, raising or harvesting any agricultural or
horticultural commodity, including the raising, shearing, feeding, caring for, training
and management of livestock, including horses, bees, poultry, fur-bearing animals
and wildlife, and the raising or harvesting of oysters, clams, mussels, and other
molluscan shellfish; the production or harvesting of maple syrup or maple sugar, and
of mushrooms. Majority of one’s income is not required for classification. 3
Natural Resource Inventory and Assessment Town of Guilford, CT H-3
Appendix