JEFFERSONVILLE – The Community Liaison for the Orange County Land Trust (OCLT), Michael Sweeton, shared his knowledge of farmland preservation with the Callicoon Town Board on Monday, July 13. He discussed how municipalities across New York State can implement a real estate transfer tax to protect their local farming ecosystem.

Sweeton’s presentation was assisted by Agriculture and Food Systems Senior Issue Leader at Cornell Cooperative Extension, Melinda Meddaugh, who said the Sullivan County Agricultural and Farmland Protection Board has been working with the Orange County Land Trust, with support from the county planning department, to develop farmland preservation initiatives.

“This is an important topic for Sullivan County,” said Sweeton, who remarked that his 22-year tenure in his last job as Warwick Town Supervisor was successful in preserving farmland. “We preserved 43 farms and 5,000 acres… and what’s exciting in my mind is this tool is very close to being available in Sullivan County.”

The tool he alluded to was the Hudson Valley Community Preservation Act. Specifically created for Westchester and Putnam counties and enacted in 2007, this act allows any town within those counties to create a community preservation plan.

Sweeton said once a public hearing is held, the town then holds a referendum so voters can decide whether they want to impose a real estate transfer tax [capped at 2%] on incoming home buyers to raise funds for the purpose of preserving farmland, water resources, and other valuable natural assets of a community.

Sweeton explained that the town decides on a real estate transfer tax amount between 0 and 2%, which applies only to the difference between the sale price of a new home and the median sale price of a home in that area.

He cited this example: if a town imposes a 1.5% transfer tax on a new home sold for $400,000 where the median home price is $342,000, the new home buyer would pay 1.5% of $58,000, equal to $870. Sweeton characterized this tax as an easy financial lift for someone buying a $400,000 home.

“This town and other towns in Sullivan, are beautiful towns,” Sweeton said. “People want to come. They’re moving further up from the South. You’ve paid taxes in your town for as many years as you’ve lived here, you’ve probably built a firehouse or two, maybe a school.”

Sweeton reasoned that current residents have made their community desirable by paying taxes in the past, so it’s not unreasonable to ask someone coming into the area to pay a relatively modest transfer tax.

“I will tell you if you look further south to the counties,” warned Sweeton, “you see how development happens extremely fast, and it usually outraces your ability to put a plan in place. So that’s why you need to be thinking about this stuff now.”

Sweeton said Ulster County got added to the bill in 2019 thanks to the efforts of former New York State Senator Jen Metzger, and this year, Assemblymember Paula Kay and Senator Peter Oberacker lobbied to get Sullivan County’s addition to the bill through the State Legislature to Governor Hochul’s desk, where it now sits awaiting her signature.

“When I left office in 2023,” said Sweeton, “the [Warwick transfer tax] fund had generated 18 million dollars.”

He continued that they were able to leverage those 18 million dollars for another 18 million dollars using state and federal grants. “Because we had matches, I’m convinced of this, we were successful in every application we made to those two grant programs,” he said.

After Sweeton’s presentation, Supervisor Tom Bose said it’s too early to know whether the creation of a community preservation plan is right for the Town of Callicoon but that “it’s interesting to hear what Warwick has done, and other towns. It’s hard to compare Warwick with the Town of Callicoon when you start talking numbers, but I think everybody should find out as much as they can to see if it is something [we should do] ... I guess I’m going into it with my eyes and ears wide open.”