FY2021 Adopted Budget

FY2021 Adopted Budget Fund Budgets

Agricultural Preservation

Agricultural Preservation The Agricultural Land Preservation office administers a variety of local, state, and federal land preservation programs focused on protecting agricultural lands. Current programs are Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program, Critical Farms, Installment Purchase, Maryland Agricultural Preservation Foundation, and Rural Legacy. The main funding sources for the agricultural preservation programs are derived from dedicated County recordation tax, State grants, a portion of the State Agricultural Transfer Tax, DQG FRQWULEXWLRQV IURP WKH &RXQW\¶V JHQHUDO IXQG 7KURXJK legislation, the County has dedicated 12.5% of recordation tax revenues toward agricultural land preservation in the county.

Budget Highlights The following budget adjustments are reflected in FY21:

Effective October 1, 2020, the recordation tax will increase from $6/$500 of consideration to $7/$500 of consideration. The $1 increase is dedicated to agriculture preservation (of which $500,000 is dedicated to related programs). This will effectively increase the percentage dedicated from 12.5% to 25.0%. The budget reflects the anticipated increase in revenue and program expenditures. If applicable, all personnel budgets have been updated to reflect changes in salaries and benefits based on contracts, individual benefit elections, tax laws, minimum wage requirements, etc.

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