Stanislaus County supervisors were expected to decide at the September 29 meeting if the county should drop out of the Williamson Act, due to the governor's defunding on the program. As a result of the cut, the county lost $1.4 million. However, the issue did not come up as three supervisors have property in the Williamson Act.
Rick Robinson, the county's chief executive officer, said it is not clear if they can vote on the issue without violating conflict of interest laws. He said his staff will study the issue and bring recommendations to the board in a couple of months.
Tom Orvis, governmental affairs director of the Stanislaus County Farm Bureau, said that to start the 10-year process of cancelling Williamson Act contracts would be incredibly unwise in a county whose economy is tied to agriculture. Ventura County has decided to renew Williamson Act contracts, despite the loss of the state subvention. Supervisor Steven Bennett said, "Ethically, the state ought to fund it but it is important enough to us that we want to have it there, and we're willing to sacrifice that property tax revenue." The county has about 1,000 Williamson Act contracts, covering around 130,000 acres.
(Cal-Tax: County supervisors need to understand that county coffers will not get a large infusion of cash if the county begins the non-renewal of existing contracts. First, the process takes 10 years, so the first-year savings are only a small amount. Of this amount, counties on average get only 17 percent. Most of the money will go to schools, which in turn will save the state money in school support. In Ventura County, only 16 percent of every property tax dollar goes to the county. If county supervisors are mad at the state for cancelling the funding for the Williamson Act, perhaps they may consider keeping the Williamson Act intact so the state doesn't benefit from the school's share of the property tax.) (Sources: Modesto Bee, September 29 and 30; Ventura County Star, October 1.)
Cal-TaxReports, October 5, 2009
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