Any action by the Board of Selectmen and Board of Finance concerning
the abatement of property taxes for dairy farms, or the recapture
of any taxes so abated, shall be done in accordance with the provisions
of C.G.S. § 12-81m, as such statute may be amended from
time to time.
A request for an abatement must be made by application to the
Board of Selectmen by the record owner of the property. In the event
of multiple record owners of the property, all of the record owners
must join in the application.
The application must be filed between September 1 and October
1 to be effective on the taxes due on the Grand List of October 1
of that year and thereafter. The Assessor may at any time require
the resubmission of verification that the property still qualifies
for treatment as a dairy farm.
An abatement is only available for dairy farms. The applicant
must provide the Board of Selectmen with evidence to support the status
of the farm as a dairy farm. In determining whether a farm is a dairy
farm, the Board of Selectmen and Board of Finance shall take into
account, as provided by C.G.S. § 22-172 or 22-173, the following
factors:
A. Valid State of Connecticut milk producer permit.
B. Current year copy of Schedule F, Federal Income Tax Return.
C. Valid Connecticut farmer's tax exemption permit.
D. The gross income of the farm as demonstrated by Federal Tax Form
1040, which document must clearly demonstrate that the majority of
income was derived from dairy farming.
E. Physical inspection of the property by the First Selectman, Chairman
of the Board of Finance and Assessor.
The Board of Selectmen and Board of Finance may abate up to
50% of the property taxes for a dairy farm (excluding dwelling, assessed
building lots and other nondairy farm properties).
Any abatement will continue in force, so long as permitted by
state law, until such time as the Board of Selectmen and Board of
Finance modify or revoke the abatement, until such time as either
the farm is sold or the farm ceases to be a dairy farm, whichever
occurs first, or until such time as the owner requests that the abatement
be removed.
The property owner or tenant receiving the abatement must notify
the Board of Selectmen and Board of Finance in writing within 30 days
of the sale of the property or the cessation of operations as a dairy
farm.
The Board of Selectmen and Board of Finance may waive any of the amounts which would otherwise be owed pursuant to §
178-22 herein if the farm continues to be a dairy farm after the sale of the property. The Board of Selectmen and Board of Finance may waive any of the amounts which would otherwise be owed pursuant to §
178-22 herein if the property continues to be used and designated as "farm land," "forest land" or "open space," as those terms are defined in C.G.S. § 12-107b, after the sale of the property, for the balance of the ten-year period commencing from the original application date. The new owner shall file a new application under his own name during the September 1 through October 1 period immediately following such sale of property, but the ten-year holding period as described in §
178-22 herein shall be calculated as commencing from the date of the original owner's first application.
In the event of sale or transfer of the property, the repayment, if any, of the taxes abated and owed to the Town of Barkhamsted pursuant to §§
178-22 and
178-23 hereof shall be due and payable by the record property owner/grantor to the Town Clerk of Barkhamsted at the time of the recording of the deed or other instrument of conveyance. In the event the property ceases to qualify as a dairy farm for any other reason, the Tax Collector shall send notice of the amount of recapture owing to the property owner, and the payment of such recapture shall be due and payable within 30 days of the date that such property no longer qualifies for the abatement. Such revenue received by the Town Clerk shall become part of the general revenue of the Town of Barkhamsted.
The Tax Assessor shall file annually, not later than 30 days after abatement is approved by the Board of Selectmen and Board of Finance, with the Town Clerk, a certificate for any dairy farm land that has been approved for a tax abatement, which certificate shall set forth the date of initial abatement (meaning the July 1 following the original application) and the obligation to pay the recapture funds as set forth in §
178-22 hereof. The certificate shall be recorded in the land records.