A municipality may, by vote of its legislative body or, in a municipality where the legislative body is a town meeting, by vote of the board of selectmen, and by vote of its board of finance, abate up to fifty per cent of the property taxes of any of the following properties provided such property is maintained as a business: (1) Dairy farm, (2) fruit orchard, including a vineyard for the growing of grapes for wine, (3) vegetable farm, (4) nursery farm, (5) any farm which employs nontraditional farming methods, including, but not limited to, hydroponic farming, (6) tobacco farms, or (7) commercial lobstering businesses operated on maritime heritage land, as defined in section 12-107b. Such a municipality may also establish a recapture in the event of sale provided such recapture shall not exceed the original amount of taxes abated and may not go back further than ten years. For purposes of this section, the municipality may include in the abatement for such fruit orchard any building for seasonal residential use by workers in such orchard which is adjacent to the fruit orchard itself, but shall not include any residence of the person receiving such abatement.

(P.A. 90-270, S. 35, 38; May Sp. Sess. P.A. 92-17, S. 42, 59; P.A. 93-254, S. 1, 2; P.A. 94-201, S. 6, 7; P.A. 07-127, S. 13.)

History: P.A. 90-270, S. 35 effective June 8, 1990, and applicable to assessment years of municipalities commencing on or after October 1, 1990; May Sp. Sess. P.A. 92-17 included fruit orchards; P.A. 93-254 included vineyards used for growing wine grapes and permitted municipality to include seasonal residential buildings in the fruit orchard abatement, effective June 23, 1993, and applicable to assessment years of municipalities commencing on or after October 1, 1993; P.A. 94-201 added Subdivs. (3) to (6), inclusive, re vegetable farms, nursery farms, nontraditional farms and tobacco farmers, effective July 1, 1994 (Revisor's note: In Subdiv. (6) the word “farmers” was replaced editorially by the Revisors with “farms” for grammatical correctness and consistency); P.A. 07-127 added Subdiv. (7) re commercial lobstering business operated on maritime heritage land, effective July 1, 2007.