. Cranberries; : the national cranberry magazine. Cranberries. Mass. Town Acts to Abate Farm Taxes Middleboro, Mass.—Residents of this rural town, in the heart of cranberry growing country, have recently taken action to help shel- ter farmers from soaring property values. The town has agreed to propose a bill to the Massachusetts legisla- ture that would allow Middleboro to abate water and sewer better- ment charges for land in active use as a farm. Town fathers and residents look at improvements as a problem of growth and want to do something about "disappearing agricultural ;
. Cranberries; : the national cranberry magazine. Cranberries. Mass. Town Acts to Abate Farm Taxes Middleboro, Mass.—Residents of this rural town, in the heart of cranberry growing country, have recently taken action to help shel- ter farmers from soaring property values. The town has agreed to propose a bill to the Massachusetts legisla- ture that would allow Middleboro to abate water and sewer better- ment charges for land in active use as a farm. Town fathers and residents look at improvements as a problem of growth and want to do something about "disappearing agricultural ; The town's treasurer and tax collector, its assessor, and select- men met recently to discuss provi- sions of the bill. Town counsel is drawing up the bill for submission in the current legislative session. Bruce G. Atwood, chairman of the town's board of selectmen, explained, "We want a means of protection for the farmer or land- owner with a lot of land, so that he won't be forced to sell ; The move started some time back when a town dairy farmer squawked about a large assessment on his farm for a water main which was installed along some 1,000 feet of his property. The new main was required because of rapid growth in the community, which is attractive to urban workers who want to commute to the city from "a place in the ; When farmer WU Schobel re- quested an abatement from select- men, who also serve as water and sewer commissioners, he was re- jected. Selectmen claimed at the time that there was no provision to recover the cost of the water main if the land were cut up into house lots and sold. Thus the betterment could not be abated. The bill proposes to allow select- men to abate such fees for farmers as long as the land remained farmland and was not sold. Fees would be imposed at such later date as the land was subdivided into houselots, and would be assessed on a per-foot basis for each lot. t'rovisions of the proposed law are thought t
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