Funds for Williamson Act 'blue-penciled' by governor

By Sarah Loogman
Pioneer Press News Editor

Pioneer Press
Fort Jones, CA

Wednesday, August 5, 2009

page 1, column 2

Siskiyou County and other agriculturally based counties of California will soon be dealing with large budget deficits with Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's recent funding cuts on the Williamson Act that were "blue-penciled" on Tuesday, July 28.

The 44 year-old Williamson Act was a property-tax relief for farmers and ranchers that was mitigated to the counties as a subsidy from a part of the state budget. For Siskiyou County, that was a sum of close to $800,000 per year and protected over 410,000 acres of agricultural land. With the next budget cuts, the county will no longer be receiving these funds.

Summing together the Shasta, Siskiyou, Tehama, and Trinity counties, nearly 1.5 million acres are protected under contracts of the Williamson contracts and the counties receive $2 million in subsidies. Between 2006 and 2007, Shasta had the greatest amount of new enrollments at a nearly 1 million acre increase. Of California, 53 of the 58 counties are adopted under this act.

"It's a minimum of about 50 percent of a cut in property tax for the agricultural land owners," said Mike Mallory, Siskiyou County Assessor. "For somebody just buying it would be even more so."

Though many multi-generation farmers and ranchers are concerned at what this means to the future of their business, the county governments will be suffering first. Counties will see an immediate reduction in their financial resources while most agricultural industries will be temporarily safe while their contracts stay in place. Under the Williamson Act, the agricultural land owners are protected under 10 year contracts. These contracts will remain so for farmers and ranchers as the counties will struggle to make up for the loss of subsidies from the state for this bind.

"It's a nearly $2 million cut to our budget that effects our general fund," said Leanna Dancer, Siskiyou County Auditor. "This money goes to things like public safety and public service functions. The general fund budget is about $34 million per year in our county. We're going to start seeing some serious hits and this is going to have some significant impacts on every single department as it already has with our preliminary budget."

Though the county is seeking for a way out of these contracts to keep money in their general fund, the chances seem unlikely. According to Mallory, the budget cut on the Williamson Acts fund was "just pocket change" for the state at about $39 million dollars.

Schwarzenegger did not, however, completely eliminate the funds - he left $1,000.

"How it works in other programs is that if they don't fund it, you don't have to operate that function," said Dancer. "If they didn't want us to fund this then why would they have left a thousand dollar place holder? "

Local ranch owner Jeff Fowle has serious concerns for the future of California if the act is not reinstated.

"Right now we are stuck between a rock and a hard spot," said Fowle. "The Williamson Act provides Siskiyou County with about ten percent of its general fund so I can't fault them if they cancel our contracts. It's going to be a sad day if this doesn't get reinstated - California will no longer be the seventh strongest economy in the world and agriculture will no longer be its leading industry."

According to Fowle, farmers and ranchers are bound under the contract to wait six years upon contract cancellation before they can begin to file paperwork to subdivide and develop their land. Though these property owners can file complaints that will keep their current rates for the first three years, they will eventually start seeing an incremental increase in their property taxes - for some that could double, or even triple, what they are currently paying.

"We're going to see a major change in the landscape of California if this is not reinstated," said Fowle. "I am willing t venture that the vast majority of farmers and ranchers in rural counties will not be able to afford to continue to be in ag production."

(Permission to post this article from the publisher.)