David Slutzky is proposing dramatic changes to land use in Albemarle County.

Courtesy of the Daily Progress:

Under David L. Slutzky’s idea, rural landowners would be given a choice: They could pay real-estate taxes based on the land’s fair market value just like the vast majority of county landowners, or they could get massive land use tax breaks by agreeing to keep their land permanently undeveloped through conservation easements.

That change would mean some rural landowners would no longer receive land use tax breaks and would pay thousands or even tens of thousands of dollars more in taxes each year, money that could be used by the county for education, transportation and other services, or to reduce the tax burden on the vast majority of county taxpayers.

I suspect we’ll see quite a bit of discussion in the next few days and weeks.