Stockton Record
By Dana M. Nichols
Record Staff Writer
October 15, 2008 6:00 AM
SAN ANDREAS - In a historic move, Calaveras County officials Tuesday acted to end tax breaks that several rural landowners have been getting even though they don't qualify.
In one case, it has been 16 years since any farm production took place on a parcel that has been getting the farmland preservation tax break. In another case, it has been nine years since the property owner filed a required annual report on farm production.
Calaveras County Agricultural Commissioner Mary Mutz said county staffers are diligently checking the status of such Williamson Act contracts after a California Department of Conservation audit released early this year slammed Calaveras County for its lax oversight.
"It has come to the department's attention that there has not been agricultural production on the land," Mutz said Tuesday in an oral report to the Calaveras County Board of Supervisors.
The Williamson Act is intended to keep land in food production by granting owners a property tax break if they agree not to carve up the land for development or otherwise change it to a non-farming use for at least 10 years. Such contracts automatically are renewed each year for an additional 10-year term unless either the owner or county officials starts the non-renewal process.
Once such contracts are not renewed, the tax break phases out gradually over 10 years. It is only once the tax break is completely phased out that owners can legally develop the land for a non-farming use.
The Calaveras County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday voted to phase out the tax break for a 50-acre chunk of ranch land near Burson and for a 26-acre vineyard in San Andreas.
In both cases, the land had been purchased by a new owner since it was originally placed under a Williamson Act contract.
Mutz said that in the case of the 50 acres of ranch land on Ospital Road, the land was purchased by Peter and Holly Araquistain of Stockton in 1989. She said the couple last reported farm production with a dollar value - $11,884 - in 1992. In some subsequent years, the couple filed reports stating activities such as mowing, clearing debris or grazing horses on the property.
Mutz said it appeared from a conversation she had with Holly Araquistain that the couple did not understand the requirements of the law and believed that they were behaving appropriately by maintaining the land in a state where it might be useful for agriculture in the future.
A call to the Araquistains' Stockton phone number went unanswered Tuesday.
According to Mutz, no report of production has been submitted since 1999 for the 26-acre vineyard along Mountain Ranch Road in San Andreas, and the vineyard has not been maintained "for the past few years."
The vineyard was purchased in 2001 by Elke Vorheis. Vorheis, reached by cell phone Tuesday, disagreed with the conclusion that her land is not being farmed.
"There is agricultural stuff going on on the property - not a lot, but some," Vorheis said.
How much matters. Calaveras County requires parcels to yield at least $2,000 in agricultural production to qualify for the tax break.
Vorheis said via e-mail that she would not be able to immediately make a more detailed response to the county's action.
Mutz said after Tuesday's meeting that Calaveras County property owners should know from here on out that they won't get the tax break if they don't qualify.
"There needs to be a system in place that checks annually," said Mutz, who has been the county's agricultural commissioner for three years.
Contact reporter Dana M. Nichols at (209) 754-9534 or dnichols@recordnet.com.
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