Agricultural exemption- do you get it?

[jjaazzy]

I have been working tirelessly for a few years now to get ag exempt. First I was going for horse breeding and poultry, I was denied, I was told we didn't look like a business. The next year I wanted to concentrate more on the poultry and applied for just poultry. I did everything that was suggested to me, everything! So when I reapplied I stated my case and they approved me, yea! Or, so I thought, they only granted ag on the areas where the coops sit. I got no credits for the rest of the property where the chickens free range daily. The day the ag guy came out they were not out. So I don't know if that had something to do with it, but I am so tired of this fight. I have chickens everywhere on this property in the garage, on the front porch I have one bedroom dedicated to the babies, a laundry room that is the incubator room. We have another barn/garage that houses supplies. I get that I won't get for the porch and garages but the land I think I should.
So my question is, do you get ag and are you only receiving for the area where the coop sit?

 

[ChickenLegs13]

Wow! You are so close to getting it!
I have an Ag Exemption and it covers chickens and I always classify the whole parcel under the PPIN. Here, I have 3 choices of classification; timber, crop, or pasture. I can break a parcel or PPIN down however I want but for simplicity's sake I always go with all pasture because it gives me the most versatility in the use of my land in that I can feed, breed, manage, raise, sale, or produce livestock, including beef cattle, sheep, swine, horses, ponies, mules, poultry, fur-bearing animals, honeybees, and fish to maintain my AE. All l do is go to the Revenue Dept at the County Courthouse, ask for an AE and they give me a short, fill in the blank type form that asks for Parcel # & PPIN, amount of acres in timber, pasture, and row crop and it becomes effective the next tax bill. It reduces my tax from $20 per acre to $1.15 per acre.

Yeah yeah, I know, I'm in AL and you're in FL so that's all irrelevant.
But, AL & FL are the same in that neither state wants to give hobby & micro farms the huge tax break because everybody with backyard chickens or a pet goat would abuse it by getting an AE and depleting the co/st treasury of it's revenue. So the co/st gov makes the little guy jump thru hoops to prove he is a bonafide small business.
Here too, if you try to reclassify less than 5 acres it sends up red flags because the Tax Dept think it's just somebody with a few backyard chickens, some wild pine trees, and a garden or absentee landowner abusing the system trying to get a tax break. Those applications for reclassification are subject to approval on inspection from The Man, after he comes snooping around pushing his little wheel on a stick and making notes, like he did to you.

Let me guess: It was the Property Appraiser's personal opinion, which is final word unless you file an appeal hearing, that you were not using the property to free range chickens because the chickens were in a coop on another property. If he'd seen a fenced pasture full of poop, feathers, coops, feeders, waterers and chickens you probably would have received the AE for that property. So he reclassified only the property that was being used for the chicken coop area and it's a small area and does little to lower your property tax bill.

My advice to you is you're too close to give up. You started the battle so you need to see it through to the end. Getting your small AE was a victory in itself. Your co/st gov wants you to concede defeat and continue feeding them the tax revenue from your hard earned $$ that they've become accustomed to and take for granted. Get your other property in order by making it look more like a poultry business pushing more chicken than Col Sanders and give it another shot. You have 30 days.
If that doesn't work, check on a Homestead exemption to reduce your tax bill.
Good luck! Please keep us posted.

 

[jjaazzy]

Oh my gosh, I can not thank you enough for your support, encouragement, and understanding. I have been dragging around all day because I filed the appeal yesterday and did it wrong (it is set up for you to fail) and now they state I have missed the deadline. Even tho it was sent directly to my contact. In the olden days someone would have helped you and forwarded miss-directed paperwork. I feel so ****** off and defeated, and I think it is set up that way too. So now I must jump through even more hoops. File different forms, ask -beg for forgiveness and explain why their system that has a form that would not click in was not suppose to work and I had to mail it in which their letter doesn't indicate. You are right people before me did abuse the system so now I must pay the price for their cheating. I think you don't get any respect unless you show up with these things with a lawyer who keeps them in check and is very familiar with their how too. It is just too difficult for this average farm girl to figure out. Why if all my contacts have been with one guy in one department about ag classification should my appeal not be accepted through that same guy. No.... different department sorry~! And you are right they don't want to give up the money they don't see me as an asset to the layers of what makes a community great. You can have all the high-rises and big revenue but people need a mental break, and we provide that. It's the ying and yang of it all. Thank you so much for your time today. You have given me the push that I truly needed today. BTW I like your tax rate... maybe I will just move....