Williamson Act vital to county

The true test of your belief in a cause is whether you'll support it with your wallet as well as your words.

That's the challenge facing Stanislaus and other counties now that the state has — at least for 2009-10 — eliminated reimbursement for Williamson Act tax breaks. For more than 30 years those tax breaks have gone to property owners who kept their land in ag use.

We've long considered the Williamson Act a critical component of the effort to save valuable farmland from development. Some farmers simply can't survive financially without the tax breaks they receive from the act.

It's become almost an annual battle to keep the Williamson Act in the state budget. This year, that battle was lost during budget cuts; funding status is unclear for 2010-11 and beyond.

Without the state reimbursement, Stanislaus County will have to absorb the cost out of its general fund, to the tune of about $1.4 million a year. That would mean having to reduce spending in other important areas, including the sheriff's department and parks.

As hard as those other cuts would be, the county needs to continue to support — and fund — the Williamson Act contracts.

It needs to make sure that the tax breaks are not going for land that is being used for ranchettes, for hobby farms or for anything other than true agricultural purposes. Monitoring compliance is no easy task, as currently more than 8,000 parcels involving more than 700,000 acres fall under the Williamson Act in Stanislaus County alone.

Supervisors will be wrestling with this issue later this fall. Three of the five board members have property within the act, so they'll apparently have to draw straws to see who votes.

When that vote comes, we urge the supervisors to put the county's money where its mouth has been — in support of this program that is so essential to our No. 1 industry.