He said the program could cut a farmer's property tax bill by as much 75 percent. Unlike the Pennsylvania Agricultural Conservation Easement Program, Clean and Green does not require farmers to sell the right to develop their land. They could decide to develop the land later but would have to repay at least a portion of the tax break, with interest. The Clean and Green tax breaks will begin in 2001, the same year new assessments go into effect. Properties 10 acres or larger that are farms are eligible for the program.
Forested areas are too.
Once enrolled in the program, the properties receive new taxable market values based on a formula that includes soil types, farm production costs, yields and prices fetched at market. For forested areas, the formula factors in the type of timber on the land. Doug Wolfgang, a project review specialist with the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture, said 48 of the state's 67 counties participated in the program in 1998. Properties enrolled in the program lose the tax break if the land use changes. A maximum of seven years of forgone taxes must be repaid if the land use changes, so someone who enrolls in the program and then decides to sell the land to a developer after 10 years must repay only seven years of the tax break, plus interest.