An Act Regarding The Voluntary Municipal Farm Support Program

LD 1450 establishes the Voluntary Municipal Farm Support Program, enabling Maine municipalities to pay farm owners to keep land in agricultural use through conservation easements. Under the program, municipalities make annual payments covering up to 100% of property taxes on farmland (up to the easement's fair market value) for a minimum 10-year term, with easements preventing non-farm development. Municipalities are limited to including no more than 3% of their total taxable land valuation in the program (with a 1% annual cap without a two-thirds vote). The bill moves the program from agricultural law to taxation law and reduces the minimum easement term from 20 to 10 years.