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Ehrlich land deal to give land for tax break Original Source Link: (May no longer be active)
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Lawmakers Question St. Mary's Land Deal
Updated: Tuesday, Oct. 19, 2004 - 8:16 PM
By TOM STUCKEY
Associated Press Writer
ANNAPOLIS, Md. (AP) - If Maryland goes through with the proposed sale of 836.5 acres of land in St. Mary's County, there is no guarantee the buyer will follow through on a pledge to protect the property by donating conservation easements to the state, a member of Gov. Robert Ehrlich's cabinet said Tuesday.
Members of the Senate Budget and Taxation Committee criticized the proposed sale to an unnamed buyer after hearing an explanation from Boyd Rutherford, secretary of general services.
"It's a trust me deal, and you have to decide how you feel about that," Warren Deschenaux, head of the legislature's fiscal staff, told committee members after he walked them through the proposed land deal.
"The whole process bothers me," Sen. Edward Kasemeyer, D-Baltimore County, said. "I just feel it's a grave mistake" for the administration to do it this way, he told Rutherford.
Rutherford's agency has been negotiating with a potential buyer to purchase the land at the same price the state paid for it a year ago.
He said as part of the deal, the buyer would give St. Mary's County land to build schools. In addition, the buyer proposes to donate conservation easements over an unspecified number of years that would prohibit the land from being developed.
Questioned by Kasemeyer, Rutherford acknowledged that nothing in the contract would bind the buyer to keep his commitment concerning easements.
The (Baltimore) Sun reported that the potential buyer is Willard Hackerman, president and chief executive of the Whiting-Turner Contracting Co., a major Maryland company that has worked on projects such as Harborplace at Baltimore's Inner Harbor and the Baltimore Convention Center. Rutherford would not confirm or deny that Hackerman is the potential buyer, and Hackerman declined requests for comments from The Sun.
Rutherford said the contract would be structured in such a way that the buyer would get a tax break on federal, state and local taxes for donating conservation easements to the state. Writing a guarantee into the contract would not be acceptable to the buyer because he could not claim the tax breaks, Rutherford said.
He said the unusual transaction would allow the state to protect more open space because conservation easements would prohibit development of the St. Mary's tract and at the same time give the state $2.5 million or more from the sale of the property to buy more land or easements.
Sen. Patrick J. Hogan, D-Montgomery, asked Rutherford if the Board of Public Works would go ahead with the transaction if the legislature makes it clear it is opposed to the sale.
"The call would be made by the governor," Rutherford replied.
(Copyright 2004 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
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