Between 1986 and 1991 the
proceeds from a dedicated fund (Recordation Tax or Real Estate Transfer
Tax; $.28 per $100 valuation on property taxes) have gone to purchase
wetlands and parkland and funded city park projects and soil conservation
projects (finding solutions to non-point pollution problems).
In the fiscal year 2003, the Governor Bredesen’s budget eliminated
the fund (approximately 18 million dollars) and diverted the Recordation
Tax into the general fund permanently – though the legislature later limited
that through 2006. The legislature
reallocated three million dollars back toward conservation purposes, and
the governor has reinstated ten million dollars in this year’s budget.
However, more needs to be done to protect Tennessee’s best conservation
areas.
All Tennessee Counties benefit
from one or more funds. From
the Wetland Acquisition Fund, 40 counties have received a total of more
than $1.5 million of payment in lieu of property taxes; farmers have sold
otherwise useless land, and communities have netted many millions of dollars
in benefits from hunting. The
Agricultural Resources Conservation Fund provides farmers with a 75% (government)-25%
(individual) match for non-point pollution control projects on their land.
Companies that serve farmers have received more than $2.5 million
for heavy equipment operators, materials haulers, coops, seed companies,
and farm supply. State and
Local Park(s) Acquisition Funds have been used successfully to match federal,
local and other grants. For
example, state funds were used to protect 9000 acres in the Bridgestone
Firestone Wildlife Management Area, 74,000 acres for International Paper
WMA, and 11,000 acres for the John Tully WMA. Since its inception the fund
has allowed the acquisition of nearly 190,000 acres of wetland and state
park areas.
We ask that the state
restore the Recordation Tax to its original purpose—that of providing funds
for wetland acquisition, local parks projects, soil conservation projects
and scenic land acquisition. A
bill is pending that would restore the diversion as early as 2005-2006 so
it can begin to replenish the fund.
Also, we urge the state to set up revenue bonds that would be used
to purchase conservation land that becomes available.
Last year Weyerhaeuser optioned more than one million acres of land
in upper middle Tennessee. Efforts
to get the state to purchase much of that acreage went unheeded.
