With property values escalating at a rapid rate, landowners are increasingly unable to afford the taxes on working forestlands and therefore are forced to sell them off for residential development.

One alternative is the North Carolina Present-Use Tax Deferment. This legislation will be featured at an informational program to be held Tuesday, Sept. 25, at 7 pm in the Community Services Building in Sylva . The Community Services Building houses the offices of the Jackson County Cooperative Extension.

Under the Present-Use Tax Deferment law, land currently in commercial timber production under a sound management program can be taxed at the value of the present use, rather than at its potential value for development. This often results in significant tax savings for a landowner.

However, getting a deferment is not always easy. A landowner must meet a set of strict statutory criteria. Rick Hamilton, Forestry Extension Specialist with the N.C. Cooperative Extension Service in Raleigh, and Stan C. Duncan, Valuation Specialist with the N.C. Department of Revenue’s Property Tax Division, will combine to give a thorough presentation of the North Carolina Present-Use Tax Deferment. They will provide definitions, criteria and other information.

Another concern for landowners is that logging will ruin the appearance of their land and decimate the forest habitat. Also appearing on the program will be David Wheeler of the group “Forests and Communities” to speak about sustainable forestry and how it can help the looks and habitat value of property while producing high-quality timber.

Hamilton is familiar with the implementation of the the Present-Use Tax Deferment program statewide. He is the chair of the Forestry Use-Value Advisory Subcommittee which advises county tax assessors on the Present-Use legislation to guide their decisions in determining qualifying landowners.

Duncan, who is stationed in Hendersonville, specializes in listing, appraisal and assessment of taxable real and personal property in the western mountains. A large part of his duties include administering the Present-Use Value Program all across the state.

When he speaks of sustainable forestry, Wheeler defines it as “mimicking nature’s processes to keep working forestlands looking and functioning like natural forest, even as they produce important resources for human use.”

“We would like landowners to become involved with their land and get to know it as a place of life and beauty,” Wheeler said. “Forest management does not have to involve silviculture, but producing trees for timber certainly can be done in a way that looks good and keeps valuable habitat. As a bonus, the timber produced by sustainable forestry methods is worth more to the landowner over the long run.”

The evening program is being sponsored by the N.C. Cooperative Extension Service, and Forests and Communities, as well as the N.C. Division of Forest Resources, the Natural Resource Conservation Service, and the Tuckasegee Community Alliance. Forests and Communities is the sustainable forestry project of the Western North Carolina Alliance.

For more information about the event call David Wheeler at 828.586.3146.

 

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The Smoky Mountain News