By Vincent DiFilippo
Earlier this year the commissioners from Upper Allen Township voted to approve placing a referendum that will appear on the November 3 general election for residents of Upper Allen Township. The referendum will be asking Upper Allen Township voters if they would like the township to start a municipal land preservation program. The program will be funded by an incredibly small amount of earned income tax (EIT) and property tax. For example, if you earn wages of $80,000 per year, the amount of EIT you would have to pay would be $40 annually. Yes, annually, not weekly or monthly. Social security, pensions, annuities, etc. are not subject to the additional EIT. If you own property, the additional property tax would equate to about $35 per year for the average homeowner.
So, if you work and have earned income of $80,000 and own an average home, you can help fund Upper Allen Township’s own land preservation program for less than $80 annually. These taxes will not be increased, and they will be repealed once there is no land in the township left to preserve. Compare that to your school property taxes (which go up every year and are in thousands of dollars), county property taxes and township property taxes. The cost of land preservation is miniscule compared to other taxes most of us pay and the benefits it will provide will last forever.
The program would use what are known as conservation easements which permanently preserve land. In fact, they are the only option to truly preserve and protect land permanently. The program is completely voluntary and is meant to give landowners another option regarding the sale of their land. As part of the process, landowners willingly give up the development rights on their property in exchange for a one-time payment based on easement value of the property. The landowner maintains ownership and continues to enjoy their property. If the property is sold at some time in the future the conservation easement remains with the property. In other words, the property remains preserved.
These municipal land preservation programs are very popular and there are over 100 municipalities in the state that have such programs. Silver Spring Township’s residents voted overwhelmingly in 2013 to form their own municipal land preservation program, and it has been an incredible success with nearly 1500 acres of land preserved and more acreage in the pipeline. I hope that the voters of Upper Allen Township will vote to pass this referendum and use the program as a method to permanently preserve some of the remaining farmland and open space. I suggest that voters look at www.protectupperallen.com for the facts of the program and other good information. Also, be aware that a small number of naysayers are spreading a large amount of misinformation on social media garbage dumps. Be careful of these posts because most of them are not based on facts but more on scaring voters. Whether you vote yes or no on the referendum, get the facts first then decide! This is a golden opportunity for the good people of Upper Allen Township to help save some of the remaining farmland and open space in their township.
