MENDHAM TOWNSHIP – As he drives through this bucolic township, Jack Curtis offers a witticism.
“Real farmers milk cows. Fake farmers milk the system.”
It is funny, but then again, not really.
A former educator and alderman in Dover, Curtis, 78, is spending a good chunk of his retirement studying, analyzing and basically condemning the state’s farmland assessment program as a scam for the super-wealthy.
Unlike some crusades of this type, this one is getting noticed.
Curtis was invited to last week’s State of the State address and was singled out for praise by Phil Murphy.
Now it’s a few days later and Curtis is conducting a tour of sorts of the “fake farms” in his corner of the state.
It’s a small corner, but quite an affluent one. The Mendhams, of which there are two, and Bernardsville and Bedminster to the south, are home to some of New Jersey’s wealthiest families.
And that is the point. Some of these families are getting incredibly-generous property tax breaks by claiming to be farmers.
A list compiled by Curtis includes such luminaries as Donald Trump, Steve Forbes and Woody Johnson all in Bedminster. Also on the list are Bruce Springsteen in Colts Neck and Jon Bon-Jovi in Middletown.
All are farmers – at least technically. And that means they get a property tax discount of a whopping 98 percent on the land they farm.
At issue is the state’s 60-year-old farmland assessment policy, which is based on a legitimate principle – the Garden State should help farmers continue to be farmers.
An obvious question is, what makes a farm?
Here’s where things veer into the absurd.
The regulation is that a farm must be at least 5-acres and must produce at least $1,000 of products annually.
The 5-acre minimum lot size is pretty easy for the super-wealthy to meet. As for the $1,000 threshold, that can theoretically be met through the sale of tomatoes, cucumbers and firewood.
The key word is “theoretically.” That’s because Curtis says he discovered owners do not have to document the products they sell with receipts. It’s all on the honor system.
If that sounds crazy, it is because it is.
As we drove around, we passed gated-mansion after gated-mansion that Curtis said qualified for farmland assessment. It’s all in the property tax records.
The notion that these properties are what the state intended when it moved to help protect farms 60 years ago is laughable.
Just looking at Mendham Township, Curtis has identified 155 “farms” in the township compared to 20 when the law took effect in 1964.
It seems odd that in suburban New Jersey, the number of farms is increasing.
Not to Curtis, who says in a self-written report:
“Word spread around the community that you could get a 98% reduction on your tax bill by saying that you are a farmer and now there are tons of fake farmers in this town. All of those people can get away with scamming the system and saying they are farmers when they clearly are not ….”
He calculates – and he has the math to prove it – that those 155 properties avoided $1.1 million in property taxes one year by claiming to run farms.
That means, the 2,126 non-farmland-assessed property owners in town have to pay about $600 more each to compensate for the fake farmers.
What happens in Mendham Township happens elsewhere around the state.
This is not a new issue. It often pops up around election time when a candidate somewhere is accused by an opponent of being a “fake farmer.”
But then it fades.
Curtis is trying to keep the issue alive. He does have a political background, which helps. He spent 10 years as a Republican alderman in Dover before relocating to the township.
He may have served as a Republican, but Curtis makes clear that he is not a MAGA-Republican. Mendham Township and Dover are less than 10 miles apart, but they’re in different worlds. Curtis clearly relates more to blue collar Dover than he does to Mendham Township.
At any rate, Curtis called into one of Murphy’s radio shows and, shockingly, soon thereafter got a meeting with the governor and found himself sitting in the balcony at the governor’s State of the State address., When Murphy pointed up to Curtis, he credited him with raising “our attention to a flaw in New Jersey’s farmland assessment tax system that allows the wealthiest among us to avoid paying their fair share.”
The governor spoke of plans to look into the farmland assessment program led by two Morris County lawmakers – state Sen. Joe Pennacchio and Assemblywoman Aura Dunn.
Curtis suggests that the 5-acre threshold for farms be increased to 10 and that the $1,000 threshold for sales be raised to $5,000 with sales documented. He says he knows sales receipts could be fabricated (imagine that) but the changes would be a step in the right direction.
Broadly speaking, cracking down on fake farmers seems to be something both the left and the right would support.
However, as noted, those who benefit from the status quo are among the most affluent people in the state, which means their political influence is enormous.
It is worth stating that this regulation has been around for 60 years and that those taking advantage of it are not doing anything illegal.
In other words, they’re just following the law. No, says Curtis:
“They’re just greedy.”
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Jack Curtis, a dedicated public servant, has been making waves in New Jersey with his efforts to expose fake farms in the state. As a former investigator for the Department of Agriculture, Curtis has seen firsthand the deceptive practices that some individuals use to take advantage of government programs meant to support legitimate farmers.
Fake farms, also known as “phantom farms,” are properties that are falsely registered as agricultural land in order to receive tax breaks and other benefits intended for working farms. These properties often have little to no actual agricultural activity taking place, and are instead used as a way for owners to save money on their property taxes.
Curtis has been instrumental in uncovering these fraudulent operations, using his expertise and investigative skills to identify suspicious properties and bring them to the attention of authorities. Through his work, Curtis has helped to save taxpayers millions of dollars by ensuring that government resources are directed towards supporting genuine farmers who are contributing to the state’s agricultural economy.
In a recent interview with Insider NJ, Curtis emphasized the importance of cracking down on fake farms in order to protect the integrity of New Jersey’s agricultural industry. He highlighted the negative impact that these fraudulent operations can have on legitimate farmers, who may struggle to compete with those who are gaming the system.
Curtis also stressed the need for increased oversight and enforcement measures to prevent fake farms from continuing to exploit government programs. He called on lawmakers and regulators to take action to ensure that taxpayer dollars are being used effectively and efficiently to support genuine agricultural businesses.
Thanks to the efforts of public servants like Jack Curtis, New Jersey is taking steps to root out fake farms and protect the interests of legitimate farmers. By shining a light on this issue and holding those responsible accountable, Curtis is helping to ensure a fair and level playing field for all participants in the state’s agricultural sector.
