The Senate Agriculture Committee heard testimony on SB254, a bill to restructure Delaware's State Farmland Evaluation Advisory Committee — expanding it from 3 to 7 voting members and requiring biennial methodology reviews — but took no vote, with the sponsor indicating the bill needs further tightening before a Senate floor vote. Supporting organizations urged a pause pending completion of a commissioned study expected around May.
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Grayson Middleton of the Delmarva Chicken Association and Sydney Grossnickel of the Delaware Farm Bureau both expressed support for SB254's goals but urged that restructuring be paused until the Pinion Global study is completed. Middleton stated it is 'worth taking pause on this restructuring just until we get that data from the study that was commissioned last year,' while Grossnickel said 'our thought is to take a step back and wait a couple. Wait a little bit.' This placed both organizations in implicit tension with the pace being pursued by Senator Hoffner and Secretary Clifton.
“There were two poultry farms of almost the exact same size, about 110,000 square feet. One that had been in business a long time with older construction, 25 years, plus or minus. They saw their property taxes go down 30%. They were very happy with that. Another situation, 110,000 square feet to produce birds. Newer construction, five to seven years, their property taxes went up 80%.”
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Sign in to subscribeRecording in progress. Thank you, Mr. Chair. The goal of SB254 is to bring the state Farmland Evaluation Advisory Committee into line with current best practices practices for the state and to set us up to be able to provide future relief to our ag communities by way of tax policy changes. We all know we just went through a reassessment. It was a little difficult on our ag and our small time farmers. This committee was created in 1968 for a group of people with specific skills. There was limited thought put into the longevity of this committee when it was originally created. Our state of Delaware is much different today than it was in 1968. My goal here is to ensure that the state Farmland Evaluation Advisory Committee can remain function for the next hundred years to come. The committee is supposed to be a tool to support the ag community and our counties during reassessment process. Due to the extended amount of time between reassessments there has been a lack of awareness of the committee and its function. They were only meeting once a year. Different deans came in and out of University of Delaware. So there…
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