- Mobile Edition - Mobile EditionDENVER - Farmers and ranchers who are thinking about a conservation easement on their land might want to think fast.
The Legislature got moving again Tuesday on an almost-forgotten 10th bill in its tax package. Nine other Democratic tax bills on items ranging from soda to Internet sales were signed into law two weeks ago.
But two more - on conservation easements and enterprise zones - got waylaid. The enterprise zone bill is still on hold, but the conservation easement bill, House Bill 1197, regained its footing Tuesday, passing the Senate Finance Committee 4-3.
The bill limits the state's conservation easement program to $26 million each of the next three years. That's $37 million less than state officials had expected to pay out in tax credits next year.
If HB 1197 passes, tax credits would be dished out on a first-come, first-served basis, said the sponsor, Sen. Rollie Heath, D-Boulder.
Colorado has one of the country's most active conservation-easement programs. Although it had been plagued by fraud and questionable land easements, legislators think they fixed most of the problems in 2008 and 2009.
Farmers and ranchers can get as much as $375,000 in tax credits for agreeing not to sell their land for development. The program has preserved wide swaths of rural Colorado by placing scenic parcels in the hands of nonprofit land trusts.
“We really believe it's critical for this program to survive during this budget crisis," said Larry Kueter, a lawyer for the Colorado Coalition of Land Trusts.
However, Kueter's group and other lands-preservation supporters worked on the bill with Gov. Bill Ritter's office, and they support it.
But it could be setting the state up for a big expense in a few years.
The bill's $26 million cap would be in effect in 2011, 2012 and 2013. People who conserve land too late to get a tax credit can go on a waiting list for a future year, Heath said.
Presumably, that could put the Legislature is a deep hole in 2014.
“The easement credit is not going away. It's just a deferral," said Sen. Keith King, R-Colorado Springs.
King doubts the predicted savings will really materialize.
“When you peel back the onion and look inside, the onion is empty," King said.
The bill passed Tuesday on a party-line vote and has its next hearing in the Senate Appropriations Committee.
jhanel@durangoherald.com