TITLE 44

Taxation

CHAPTER 44-27

Taxation of Farm, Forest, and Open Space Land

SECTION 44-27-3



   § 44-27-3  Classification of farmland.

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(a) An owner of land may file a written application with the director of

environmental management, for its designation by the director as farmland. When

the application is made and after a filing fee of ten dollars ($10.00) is paid,

the director shall examine the land and, if the director determines that it is

farmland, the director shall issue a certificate in his or her office, furnish

a copy to the owner of the land, and file one copy in the office of the

assessor of the city or town in which the land is located.



   (b) When requested to do so by the assessor or whenever the

director deems it necessary, the director of environmental management shall

re-examine land designated by the director as farmland. If the director finds

that this land is no longer farmland, the director shall send a notice to the

landowner that the landowner has thirty (30) days either to bring the land into

compliance or to request a formal hearing before the director. If after the

thirty (30) days or after the hearing, the director confirms that the land is

no longer farmland, the director shall issue a certificate canceling his or her

designation of the land as farmland, and shall furnish one copy to the owner

and file one in the office of the assessor. Loss of designation by action of

the director of environmental management makes the land subject to the land use

change tax provided for in § 44-5-39.



   (c)(1) An owner of land designated as farmland by the

director of environmental management may apply for its classification as

farmland on any assessment list of the city or town where it is located by

filing a written application for that classification with the assessor of the

city or town not earlier than thirty (30) days before nor later than thirty

(30) days after the date of assessment, except that in years of revaluation not

later than thirty (30) days after written notice of revaluation or in its

absence after receipt of the tax bill, and if the director has not cancelled

his or her designation of that land as farmland as of a date at or prior to the

date of the assessment, the assessor shall classify the land as farmland and

include it as farmland on the assessment list.



   (2) In order to maintain this classification, each year

thereafter, the property owner shall submit to the assessor a certificate on a

form prescribed by the assessor confirming that the land is still used in

farming. The assessor shall in the first notification mail the forms by first

class mail not later than the thirtieth of November and if a second

notification is needed, it shall be mailed certified. Failure to submit the

certificate by thirty (30) days after the date of assessment is construed as

voluntary withdrawal of the classification, except that the assessor may waive

this requirement for good cause.



   (3) Notwithstanding the preceding subsections, whenever the

owner of land designated and classified as farmland is a municipal land trust,

municipal conservation commission, or private nonprofit land trust, annual

certification is not required, and the classification continues until the

voluntary withdrawal of the classification by the owner, or the transfer of the

land by the owner in fee simple.



   (d) Application to the director of environmental management

for designation as farmland shall be made upon a form prescribed by the

director and shall present a description of the land and any other information

that he or she may require to aid the director in determining whether the land

qualifies for that designation. An application to an assessor for

classification of land as farmland shall be made upon a form prescribed by the

assessor and shall present a description of the land and the date of issuance

by the director of environmental management of his or her certificate

designating it as farmland.



   (e) Failure to file an application for classification of

farmland within the time limit prescribed in subsection (c) of this section and

in the manner and form prescribed in subsection (d) of this section shall be

construed as a waiver of the right to that classification on the assessment

list.



   (f) Any landowner aggrieved by: (1) the cancellation of a

designation under subsection (b) of this section or the denial of an

application, filed in accordance with the provisions of subsections (c) and (d)

of this section, by the assessor of a city or town for a classification of land

as farmland; or (2) the use value assessment placed on land classified as

farmland by the assessor; has the right to file an appeal within ninety (90)

days of receiving notice, in writing, of the denial or the use value assessment

with the board of assessment review of the city or town. Should the city or

town not have a board of assessment review, the city or town council reviews

the appeal. The assessor shall be given the opportunity to explain either his

or her refusal to classify the land or the assessment placed on the classified

land. The board of review, or city or town council, shall also consider the

testimony of the landowner and the city or town's planning board and

conservation commission, if they exist. They shall also seek and consider the

advice of the office of state planning, the department of environmental

management, the dean of the college of resource development, and the

conservation district in which the city or town is located.



   (g)(1) The board of assessment review, or city or town

council, shall not disturb the designation of the director issued pursuant to

subsection (a) of this section, unless the tax assessor has shown by a

preponderance of the evidence that that designation was erroneous.



   (2) The board of assessment review, or city or town council,

shall render a decision within forty-five (45) days of the date of filing the

appeal. Decisions of the board of assessment review, or city or town council,

may be appealed to the superior court pursuant to § 44-27-6.



History of Section.

(P.L. 1980, ch. 252, § 2; P.L. 1986, ch. 73, § 1; P.L. 1990, ch. 339,

§ 1; P.L. 2013, ch. 303, § 1; P.L. 2013, ch. 430, § 1.)