54:4-23.20 State Farmland Evaluation Committee.

20. a. There is hereby created a State Farmland Evaluation Committee, the members of which shall be the Director of the Division of Taxation; the Dean of the College of Agriculture, Rutgers, The State University; the Secretary of Agriculture; a municipal tax assessor, county assessor, or county tax administrator, who shall be appointed by the Governor with the advice and consent of the Senate; and a farmer who is a current or former member of the State Board of Agriculture, who shall be appointed by the Governor with the advice and consent of the Senate. Each appointed member shall serve for a term of three years and may be appointed to successive terms.

b. The committee shall meet from time to time on the call of the Secretary of Agriculture or the Director of the Division of Taxation and annually determine and publish a range of values for each of the several classifications of land in agricultural and horticultural use in the various areas of the State. The committee shall determine the ranges in fair value of such land based upon its productive capabilities when devoted to agricultural or horticultural uses. In making these annual determinations of value, the committee shall consider available evidence of agricultural or horticultural capability derived from the soil survey at Rutgers, The State University, the National Co-operative Soil Survey, and such other evidence of value of land devoted exclusively to agricultural or horticultural uses as it may in its judgment deem pertinent. On or before October 1 of each year, the committee shall make these ranges of fair value available to the assessing authority in each of the taxing districts in which land in agricultural and horticultural use is located.

c. The committee shall also conduct the review, required every three years, or sooner at the call of the Secretary of Agriculture or the Director of the Division of Taxation, of the minimum gross sales, payments, fees, and imputed income requirements, and anticipated yearly gross sales, payments, fees, and imputed income requirements, in order for land which is actively devoted to agricultural or horticultural use to be eligible for valuation, assessment and taxation under the provisions of P.L.1964, c.48 (C.54:4-23.1 et seq.), as prescribed by section 5 of P.L.1964, c.48 (C.54:4-23.5), and may raise the amounts of those minimums to such levels as the committee determines appropriate as authorized pursuant to section 5 of P.L.1964, c.48.

d. Within one year after the date of enactment of P.L.2013, c.43 (C.54:4-23.3d et al.), and every five years thereafter, the committee shall review the application form or forms for valuation, assessment and taxation of land in agricultural or horticultural use pursuant to P.L.1964, c.48 (C.54:4-23.1 et seq.), and provide any recommendations the committee may have thereon to the Director of the Division of Taxation.

L.1964, c.48, s.20; amended 2013, c.43, s.5.