Volume 3 - Opinions of Counsel SBEA No. 97
Agricultural exemption (gross sales requirement) (recreational lands) - Agriculture and Markets Law, § 305:
For purposes of the “Agricultural Districts Law” (Agriculture and Markets Law, Article 25AA), land used for recreational purposes is not in agricultural production and is not eligible for an agricultural value assessment, and gross sales receipts from such recreational lands are not includable in computing gross sales required by section 305 of such law.
Our opinion has been requested as to whether money from recreational facilities and camping grounds may be included as gross sales when computing an agricultural value assessment pursuant to the “Agricultural Districts Law”.
Section 305(1) of the Agriculture and Markets Law requires that eligible land produce, for sale, agricultural products having a gross average sales value of ten thousand dollars or more over the two preceding years.
The land under application is used for raising livestock, producing hay and for recreational purposes, and the total gross sales value from these enterprises exceeds $10,000. For purposes of this exemption, land used for recreational purposes is not in agricultural production and is therefore ineligible for an agricultural value assessment. Gross sales receipts from such recreational lands may not be included, therefore, when computing the gross sales figure.
Only the land actually used in, or in support of, agricultural production (i.e., that used for the raising of livestock and the growing of hay) is eligible for an agricultural exemption and only the gross sales from that land are to be used.
July 26, 1974