On this page you will find information about:
May 17, 2007 Nassau Land Trust Conservation Seminar for Farm & Boarding Barn Owners
Nassau County $100 Million Open Space Bond
Dorothy P. Flint Nassau County 4H Camp and possible sale
NYS Tax Benefits of trail conservation easements
Bad Copy of NYS Recreational Use Statute
Information of benefits of land donation
Information concerning what loss of Open Space means to you and your horse
Congressional Cavalry Program through American Horse Council
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May 17th- Nassau Land Trust Equestrian Conservation Event:
Legislator Diane Yatauro (D 18th district), in cooperation with the Nassau Land Trust, co-sponsored an Equestrian Land Conservation Seminar held in the evening at the Chelsea Center. The target audience included equestrian property owners, realtors, local officials, estate lawyers and up and coming trainers. Mr. Tim Caulfield, Vice President of The Peconic Land Trust was the featured speaker. He delivered an informative power-point presentation on the various conservation tools and their tax advantages and related them to specific equestrian projects that Peconic had developed out East. These tools are vital to the survival of horse farms and equestrian trails in the future. If you would like information on this topic you can call the Nassau Land Trust at (888)-547-5757 or The Peconic Land Trust at (631) 283-3195.
The next speaker (who traveled down from Albany) was Dr. Lydia Denney, a Veterinarian who developed and now heads the N.Y. State Horse Assurance Program. The program is really a compilation of best practices and safety requirements to make “the barn” a healthier, safer place for horses, owners, and employees. There are various benefits for voluntarily participating in the program, which includes a free microchipping kit and insurance premium reductions. Dr. Denney brought plenty of helpful handouts and a sample program questionnaire. She can be contacted for more info at (315 )829-4282.
The third and last speaker was Ms. Sherry Forgash from Nassau County Soil and Water Commission. Ms. Forgash spoke about manure composting programs taking place elsewhere that might work in our area, thereby saving barn owners money on carting manure away. Ms. Forgash also spoke about best practices in controlling groundwater runoff, and the A.I.M. Program survey for barn owners that is both voluntary and anonymous. When surveys get completed and returned to Ms. Forgash, she gets state monies to be used for projects that she would like to implement.
About fifty people attended the seminar. The audience had many questions answered and left the event laden with handouts. The horse community should be appreciative of the support given to the event by Ms. Yatauro and her staff.
The Equestrian Land Conservation Resource, an organization that has helped many equestrians across the USA deal with land issues, has moved to a new and larger home in Lexington, Kentucky. Muttontown Horsemen’s Association has long been a supporting organization of ELCR. They have designed and published many helpful booklets on preserving horse facilities and working with landowners to save open space and trails. Check out their website: www.elcr.org. or contact them at (859) 455-8383.
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The Open Space $100 Million Bond was passed by Nassau County November 2006. During 2007, the residents of Nassau County will be involved with the planning of the expenditure of the funds for open space acquisition, parks improvements and expansion, storm water run-off remediation and brown field development.
Nassau County hosted public meetings to explain the process of the Bond program and how you can affect the expenditure of the funds on a site that you recommend to the County. Forms for nominating parcels are available at the meeting sites and on the websites listed below. Deadline for nominations is March 15, 2007.
Websites:
www.nassaucountynygov.com
www.northshorelandalliance.com (from January 23 on)
Another land issue concerning Nassau County residents is the Dorothy P. Flint Nassau County 4-H Camp. Located in on 130 acres in Riverhead on the North Shore in Suffolk County, the land is owned by Nassau County and the camp is operated by the Cornell Cooperative Extension of Nassau County. At this time, Nassau County does not have a 4-H program.
Cornell operates an affordable sleep away camp and a horse program is part of the camping experience. The Camp has been in continual operations since 1924 and both Nassau and Suffolk children are welcomed. The camp also runs weekend 4-H riding programs for Suffolk groups. The camp website is www.dpf4hcamp.org
The future of the camp program is in jeopardy. Nassau County is considering selling or swapping the property. Nassau Suffolk Horsemen's Association has been funding a 4-H Horse Camp Scholarship Program since 2004. NSHA has brought the possible loss of this property and horse program to the attention of the Long Island horse community and suggests that all Nassau County residents write or call their Nassau County legislator and Nassau County Executive. Tell them you wish for Nassau County to keep this property, the horse camp and equine programs. Also ask the County to advertise the camp"s existence. Imagine a sleep away camp with horses that your child could enjoy in the summer right on Long Island!
The 4-H Camp has summer sessions and a four day session at the end of December. The sessions cover horse health and training, riding instruction on trail and ring, grooming and mounted games. In December of 2006, the fee was $150 for two days and $260 four the four days. The time is 9 am to 3 pm, the address is 3186 Sound Ave, Riverhead, NY and contact numbers are camp 631-727-6065, Denise Ottavio Equitation Director 631-727-0166 do29@cornell.edu and web www.cce.cornell.edu/nassau
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ATTENTION LANDOWNERS
NEW YORK STATE HAS ENACTED A FIRST-IN-THE NATION CONSERVATION EASEMENT TAX CREDIT!
This annual, REFUNDABLE state income tax credit will be implemented in 2007. The amount will be equal to 25% of the combined town, county and school taxes paid on the land during the previous tax year and is capped at $5,000.00 for each qualifying landowner.
More information is available at the Land Trust Alliance website www.lta.org
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| NYS Recreational Use Statute (Click to Enlarge) |
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Landowner's who grant trail conservation easements may be eligible for three types of tax benefits:
1. Immediate federal income tax deduction based on the value of the property after the easement area has been defined, as determined by a qualified appraiser. Any part of the deduction that cannot be used in the years of the grant of the easement can be carried forward for five years.
2. An estate tax deduction of up to $500,000.00 from your gross estate over and above the current lifetime exclusion available to all estates under IR Code Section 2031(c).
3. A property tax deduction if the specified protion of your land, which you still own, qualifies as a conservation easement parcel by the Town Assessor's Office.
Remember, YOU, the grantor of the trail easement, still OWN the land. The trail easement can be RELOCATED is specified as a FLOATING EASEMENT, to another qualified area on your land to facilitate future building or sales. During a SUBDIVISION of the property, the easement qualifies as part (or all) of the 15% requirement for open space.
AND, MHA gains a permanent segment of our historic trail system!
For further information contact your tax professional or contact a local land conservation alliance group.
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The following information was obtained from an article written by John Strassburger for the March 2007 issue of Horse Journal (www.horse-journal.com). Mr. Strassburger is a Board member of Equestrian Land Trust. Mr. Strassburger explains that with the decrease in open spaces, fewer people interact with horses or ride through a forest or meadow and therefore, are not rising to the land-conservation issues, particularly with relation to horses. He also comments that land loss, in addition to causing the loss of riding and stabling locations, there is the loss of fields in which the hay and grains are grown. This means the food for your horse is grown further away from where you are and the costs increase. Mr. Strassburger opines that the "single biggest thing anyone who owns a horse farm (or a farm that grows hay or grains) can do is to donate a permanent conservation easement on it to a local land trust, a government body, or both." For those who do not own land, he suggests you "become a member of and volunteer for organizations that are working hard to preserve the countryside around us." He mentions the Land Trust Alliance and the Equestrian Land Conservation Resource. He also suggest that you "become politically active in your town, going to Planning Commission or town council or county supervisors meetings."
MHA is a member of the Equestrian Land Trust and our president is a board member of Nassau Land Trust.
An article in the March 2007 The Trail Rider Magazine mentions that a report submitted by the Land Trust Alliance finds private land conservation by local and state land trusts have increased. Federally, a recent law has been enacted to offer new land-conservation tax benefits. This law applies only to 2006/2007 donations and the Land Trust Alliance is pushing for permanency of the new law. The article quotes Ms. McCabe, president of ELCR, "It's important for horse owners to create a relationship with their local land trust that will result in access to land for riding where appropriate....ELCR offers assistance to individual land owners and local land trusts to make this happen."
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The "Congressional Cavalry" is a grassroots effort by AHC to gather individual horse people to contact their Federal Representative/Senator or other federal officials. Participants will be mobilized when there is a need for grassroots lobbying. AHC will provide information via emails, faxes or mail to the individuals. Participants may also be asked to visit their representatives locally, invite them to horse events and to tell their representatives about the importance of the horse industry locally.
To sign up contact Kevin McColaugh at kmccolaugh@horsecouncil.org, fax 202-296-1970, phone # 202-296-4031 or mail McColaugh American Horse Council 1616 H Street NW Washington DC 20006
Provide Your Name, Phone #, Email address, Farm or Business name, (if applicable), mailing address, your congressional representative(s) and your horse industry interest ( recreational riding, breeding, showing, racing etc).
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