PLUMSTED — According to Mayor Ronald Dancer, working farms yield millions in tax savings and ratables to the community.
"In Plumsted, agriculture is an integral part to our economic development plans," he said.
Dancer said that in addition to the traditional tax ratables of commercial and light industrial operations are agriculture tax ratables of farmer’s markets and buildings.
"Often times, the general public does not realize that farmers pay full taxes on their buildings and only receive a reduced assessment on the farmland itself," said the mayor, noting that farm buildings do not produce or house school children, yet, are yielding millions of dollars in tax ratables.
Dancer said Plumsted and its neighbors Upper Freehold and North Hanover townships are "farming communities that will continue to be home to new agriculture industries and support businesses, as well as saving taxpayers millions in future school taxes."
According to Dancer, who is also a 30th District state assemblyman, of the 1.7 million acres of remaining undeveloped land in New Jersey, 1.2 million acres are actively farmed and it is therefore vital to continue saving farms statewide.
Dancer went on to say that preserving the state’s farmland is preserving the farmers and the agricultural industry that sustains them.
He said the state identifies five components to focus on that it finds critical to agriculture. They are farmland preservation; land use conservation planning laws; economic development; natural resource conservation; and agricultural industry sustenance.
The mayor said Plumsted’s farmland preservation plan element of the master plan has been deemed consistent with the state’s Agriculture Smart Growth Plan.
— Kathy Baratta

