More than 260 delegates from across the state met in Indianapolis over the weekend to consider the policy that will guide Indiana Farm Bureau for the next year. President Don Villwock says delegates reaffirmed the organizations quest for permanent and lasting property tax relief as they head into the next session of the Indiana General Assembly.
Delegates added language that supports lowering the property tax cap for farmland, farm buildings and machinery to 1 percent of assessed value. Currently, the cap for homesteads is 1 percent of assessed value, but farmland is capped at 2 percent, and all other property, including farm equipment, is capped at 3 percent.
Annexation is also a big concern – and it is directly tied to property taxes since in many cases, it is the “lack of tax revenues caused by the caps that have caused local leaders and administrators to expand their assessed valuation by annexing farmland,” Villwock said. The new policy states that “Municipalities should have to collect signatures from 65 percent of the land holders in order for the area to be annexed.”
Road funding was another important issue for delegates.
The longest discussion of the day involved unmanned aerial vehicles or drones, as they affect agriculture. They are increasingly used in agriculture for crop scouting and gathering other agronomic data, but there are still very few regulations governing their commercial use.
Also approved by delegates was language that seeks to clarify the roles of the Indiana State Fair Commission and the Indiana State Fair Board.
At the federal level, the delegates approved language on crop insurance that will be sent to the American Farm Bureau Federation’s resolution committee. “They reemphasized the need for crop insurance on the national scale and reaffirmed crop insurance as the key safety net,” Villwock said.
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