HOUSE CONCURRENT RESOLUTION NO. 92

(By Delegates Ashley, Staton, Anderson, Pethtel, Williams, Stemple, Faircloth, Mezzatesta and Trump)


[Introduced March 8, 2002; referred to the

Committee on Rules.]


Requesting the Joint Committee on Government and Finance to study the feasibility of providing for the automatic renewal of managed timberland classification and farmland classification for assessment of real property for ad valorem property taxation, providing a procedure for late filing of applications to classify property as farmland and providing for an intermediate level of appeal of erroneous assessments upon applications requesting that real property be classified as managed timberland or farmland;

Whereas, Classification of real property as managed timberland for assessment for purposes of ad valorem property taxation currently must be applied for every year, requiring the property owner to go through the procedures of reapplying for such classification, although in order to qualify, the taxpayer must implement a certified managed timberland plan approved by the director of the division of forestry within twenty-four months of certifying that the property meets the definition of managed timberland; the director of the division of forestry has the authority to inspect, monitor, review and revoke managed timberland status if the director finds that the property owner has failed to meet the approved managed timberland plan, and, therefore the Legislature finds that the necessity of the requirement of reapplying for such classification every year in some instances may serve no beneficial purpose and a review of this requirement may be beneficial to property owners as well as the State; and
Whereas, Under current law, property owners seeking classification of their property as farmland for assessment for ad valorem property taxation must reapply each year in a timely manner and failure to so reapply results in loss of classification of their property as farmland for that tax year without any remedy, even though in many instances, the property is otherwise qualified to be so classified; and
Whereas, In many instances, the requirement of annually applying for farmland classification is an onerous burden upon some property owners, particularly senior citizens with infirmities and disabilities and surviving spouses of deceased property owners who are unaware of the annual filing requirement until after the filing deadline expires; in many such instances, the unintentional failure to meet the filing requirement results in the taxpayer incurring an increased tax burden even though the taxpayer would otherwise be entitled to the farmland classification had the taxpayer timely filed; and
Whereas, County Commissions sitting as boards of equalization and review currently have no authority to hear appeals for review of erroneous ad valorem property assessment classification; and
Whereas, A property owner aggrieved by an adverse valuation or classification of property as managed timber or farmland has no recourse other than a direct appeal to the state tax commissioner, and a procedure for an intermediate appeal procedure on a local level should be considered; therefore, be it
Resolved by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That the Joint Committee on Government and Finance is hereby requested to study the feasibility of providing for the automatic renewal of managed timberland classification and farmland classification for assessment of real property for ad valorem property taxation, providing a procedure for late filing of applications to classify property as farmland and providing for an intermediate level of appeal of erroneous assessments upon applications requesting that real property be classified as managed timberland or farmland; and, be it
Further Resolved, That the Joint Committee on Government and Finance report to the regular session of the Legislature, 2003, on its findings, conclusions and recommendations, together with drafts of any legislation necessary to effectuate its recommendations; and, be it
Further Resolved, That the expenses necessary to conduct this study, to prepare a report and to draft the necessary legislation be paid from legislative appropriations to the Joint Committee on Government and Finance.