Mar 16, 2017 4 min read

A motorist traveling Route 19 through north-suburban Peters Township can’t miss the eye-catching displays of lush garden plants and orange pumpkins displayed outdoors as the seasons change at Simmons Farm Market, 2861 Washington Road, McMurray.

The Simmons family also sells fruits, vegetables, berries and flowers grown locally, and everything from honey to hay bales can be found at the market, from which the tantalizing aroma of baking pies often wafts. As winter approaches, Christmas trees appear in both the lot and greenhouse.

The market is closed now because it’s not growing season in Southwestern Pennsylvania, but a sign invites customers to stop by as Easter approaches.

But, quick like a bunny, the assessed value of the Simmons farm property also has leaped up.

Bob Simmons said just nine/100ths of the Washington Road property near Mocassin Drive – basically, the greenhouse – was deemed “agricultural” and eligible for the Clean and Green tax-relief program, while the rest is taxed higher as a commercial enterprise.

“We are not shipping, we are farm to table,” Simmons, a fifth-generation farmer, said Thursday after addressing the county commissioners. “We sell to all local people. Everything that I do is a farm.”

Agricultural and forest land of 10 acres or more can be part of the Clean and Green program, aimed at land conservation by lowering the property tax rate for the vast majority of landowners who enroll their acreage. Landowners are obligated to devote their land to agricultural use, agricultural reserve or forest reserve to qualify for lower property taxes. Those who leave the program may be required to pay as much as seven years’ worth of “roll-back” taxes, plus interest.

Simmons said he would like to see “farmer representation” in the tax assessment office, and reminded the commissioners they have the power to develop their own assessment formula for agricultural land.

What Simmons was asking for would actually be a return to the way Washington County placed values on farm property prior to the recent reassessment by Tyler Technologies Inc. of Moraine, Ohio.

Sixty-five of Pennsylvania’s 67 counties used values developed in several different categories by soil specialists at Penn State University to classify the quality – or lack thereof – in farmland, and, until the recent reassessment, Washington was one of the two that set their own values.

But Washington County joined those other 65 counties as the reassessment took effect this year, and Penn State University agronomists and soil technicians have been providing the county with data related to the value and classification of agricultural land. Rich soil contributes to higher crop yields and, therefore, land in these areas is considered more valuable.

But the information isn’t applicable just to farmers. Data from Penn State also rates forest reserve. Almost all of Pennsylvania’s virgin forest has been clear-cut, and it takes the state’s timber 80 or more years to reach a size that can be harvested. The value of forest reserve also varies from place to place. Washington County’s average-use value in this category is $76, while Greene County’s is $47.

Simmons family members own outright 160 acres in Peters Township. “The build-up of very large homes around my home makes my farm rise in value very much,” he told the commissioners, and questioned why all Simmons family farmsteads haven’t been deemed eligible for the Clean and Green preferential assessment.

County Solicitor J. Lynn DeHaven said the tax assessment office had considered Simmons’ situation and noted that in 2002 the sale of property owned by Simmons, his wife and his two brothers and their wives brought $1,198,200 from Hoskins Construction Co., which wanted the land for development of what many call “McMansions.”

Mr. and Mrs. Robert Simmons retained a lot and built a home, but for that home to be considered a “farmstead” under the Clean and Green law and qualify for a lower tax assessment, the ownership would have to be exactly the same as the three brothers and their wives who own the farm.

“Tyler had a number of meetings with the farming community,” DeHaven said, adding that regarding the assessment of the Route 19 farm market, “If he disagrees with that issue, he’s free to go to court.”