Supporters of Program Open Space insist that they don't oppose increased funding for farmland preservation.
They just oppose Sen. Larry E. Haines' proposal, which would take the money out of their budget.
"We respectfully recommend to you that you make every effort to find another way to increase money for farmland preservation without taking the full amount from a transfer tax program that is equally worthy," said Richard Dolish of the Maryland Recreation and Parks legislative committee, as he spoke against the bill Thursday night.
Mr. Haines' proposal -- which came before the Joint Committee on Program Open Space and Agricultural Land Preservation Thursday night -- would redistribute real estate transfer tax money, giving 22.6 percent to agricultural land preservation and 75 percent to Program Open Space.
Now, farmland preservation gets 13.2 percent, Program Open Space receives 84.2 percent and 2.6 percent goes to the Heritage Conservation Fund to protect land for endangered species.
"We don't come saying their needs aren't as great," Mr. Dolish said. "We just say that there may be other ways to do it."
Mr. Haines' bill received a boost after the father of the state's preservation program, former Sen. James Clark, announced his support.
H. Grant Dehart, director of Program Open Space, was the only other person to testify against the bill.
"I love Program Open Space," said Mr. Clark, a Howard County farmer who in the 1970s led the commission that created both programs. "But I have a passion for farmland preservation. Ag land preservation is a good program, but we've just about starved it to death," he said. "If we don't give it some relief it's going to die."
Under the program, the state preserves agricultural land by purchasing development rights from farmers in exchange for a lower appraisal and a legally binding promise to keep the property as farmland. A development right is the difference between the land's agricultural value and what it would be worth if developed.
RTC The program has become very popular as retiring farmers try to preserve the land for their children. Also, young farmers who cannot afford to pay development prices for farms use the program to help acquire their own land, supporters of Mr. Haines' bill said.
But in recent years the legislature took money from the fund to balance the budget. As a result, the program has a backlog of offers for about $116 million worth of property for which owners hope to sell their development rights but just $10 million with which to purchase easements, said Paul W. Scheidt, executive director of the Maryland Agricultural Land Preservation Foundation.
Farmers who repeatedly have been turned down are disgusted and are considering dropping out of the program, the bill's supporters said.
"The credibility of the program is at stake," said John C. "Jack" Miller, a lobbyist for the Maryland Farm Bureau. "If it loses its credibility, they [farmers] will stop participating and it will wilt and die. It is a good tool, one of many we need to control growth in our state."