New York State is its own worst enemy when it comes to economic development and job growth. Let’s be honest, while the economic downturn has hurt everyone nationally, it has been felt more deeply and more profoundly in New York State. We have among the worst business and job growth policies in the nation. It’s felt in every sector of our state’s economy.

Here in rural Northern and Central New York, many jobs are found on the family farms throughout our beautiful countryside. Like I said, everyone is feeling the pressures of the economic slump; however, our family farms are facing many additional pressures.

Family farms pay the second-highest property taxes in the nation, averaging $38 per acre, compared to the $12 per acre national average. Farm property taxes are calculated in a different manner than residential property taxes, taking into account national production value statistics and soil types.

Roughly 15 percent of a farm’s net income is used to pay exorbitantly high property taxes. Imagine the many jobs we could create if we reduced this burden on family farms, and think of how much better off our rural communities would be.

Currently, there is a 10 percent cap on growth, but it has hardly slowed the growth of taxes on family farms. In just 10 years, the assessment rate has doubled property taxes on family farms. This is hardly sustainable for already-struggling farms – many of which are operating at a loss and at an average of $17,888 per acre nationally.

Clearly, our family farms are in need of a two percent cap like the one we passed for homeowners. That’s what my colleagues, the New York Farm Bureau and I are fighting for. During the last few days of the legislative session, we must work to improve economic opportunities and remove the barriers that hinder job growth.

It’s time for the Assembly to pass the two percent agricultural assessment cap, a bill which I sponsor. The Senate already has passed the measure. If legislators truly support economic recovery, they must pass legislation that will help our family farms, which are an integral part of our economic tapestry upstate.