Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

New Agency Opens Doors

by Keith Garrison

Arkansas Farm Bureau Federation

A new state agency began operation Tuesday, July 1, the result of concern by citizens and the way in which their state government taxes them. The new Assessment Coordination Department now stands apart from its former parent agency the Public Service Commission.

The change is largely the result of Arkansas landowners' discovery that the way in which their timberland was to be assessed for tax purposes could abruptly triple their property taxes.

The tax change affected landowners over much of Arkansas and it was the kind of issue that called for a legislative remedy. But a timber owner acting alone might by daunted by the process of addressing state government. So, many of the timber owners turned to the Farm Bureau.

Its government-sounding name belies its status as a non-profit association, founded in the Great Depression by farmers who recognized the need to speak in large numbers, but with one voice. The county Farm Bureau's board of directors is the first stop in a from-the-grass-roots-up, democratic process that can culminate in an official policy position being adopted by voting delegates at the organization's annual convention.

The timber owners, working through the Farm Bureau, took their problem to the state legislature, pressed for, and got, a solution.

Sen. Morril Harriman, D-Van Buren, sponsored legislation that removed the assessing agency from the umbrella of the Public Service Commission and made it an independent agency, its administratio appointed by the governor.

The agency serves the people better, according to Farm Bureau President Andrew Whisenhunt. "As a separate agency we believe the Assessment Coordination Department will be more responsive to the public in administering equitable property tax procedures," he said.

Farmers' tax problems are unique, because the economics of farming differ from most other enterprises. "While many businesses generate a cash flow year-round, in the case of timber it may take 20 years before trees are large enough to be harvested and sold," Whisenhunt said.

The 200,000 county Farm Bureau members constitute the largest general farm organization in Arkansas and the eighth largest state member of the national oraganization, the American Farm Bureau Federation.