Rachael Grove’s letter in the December 3 edition of The People’s Defender defends the property tax exemption for lands owned by non-profit organizations, on the grounds that they generate tourism revenue for Adams County. Ms. Grove offers many facts and figures concerning the benefits of tourism to our county, which she claims is largely due to our “natural resources and unique flora and fauna” to be found in the preserves owned by The Nature Conservancy, Edge of Appalachia Preserve and Cincinnati Museum Center.
As a founding board member of the Adams County Travel & Visitor’s Bureau, who served on the Travel & Visitor’s Bureau board for many years, I’m very familiar with this topic. Our aggressive promotional efforts, starting in 1998, have a lot to do with the revenues Ms. Groves describes. In the process of building a marketing plan to boost Adams County tourism, we learned by trial and error what worked and what didn’t. We also did quite a bit of market research.
We kept records of incoming phone calls, website “hits” and emails, to find out what county attractions drew the most visitors. One statistic I remember was that for every inquiry about Serpent Mound, there were five about the Amish retail businesses. Hunters from near and far inquired about lodging and restaurants. Nature preserves generated far less interest, and virtually no revenue.
The fact is that nature preserves simply don’t attract a significant number of visitors. Organizations like the Nature Conservancy and Edge of Appalachia actively discourage and limit public traffic on most of their properties. Hunting is virtually forbidden. Reservations are required for access to some sites. Parking is very limited. There’s simply no comparison between attendance at nature preserves and the large numbers of hunters and Amish retail store shoppers. Per-person spending by nature lovers and hikers is vastly lower.
All this has gotten attention recently because Adams County taxpayers are questioning why huge portions of county land aren’t taxed, so these properties don’t support our schools, roads, or public assistance programs whatsoever. County and township governments are strapped for funds to maintain basic services, because so much of our county is tax-exempt.
Ms. Grove claims that tourism “sustains 732 jobs in Adams County, generating $21.4 million dollars in wages”. How many of those jobs are in nature preserves? A dozen? It’s true that our natural areas and scenic beauty improve the quality of life for Adams County residents, and Ms. Grove has a valid point about delinquent taxes. However these overdue payments will eventually be collected, or the properties subject to foreclosure. Not so with nature preserves.
If, as Ms. Grove suggests, tax-exempt status should be conferred based on tourism revenue, perhaps it would be fair to grant property tax exemptions to Amish retail stores, or to property owners who lease hunting rights, or to rental cabins? Instead, these property owners bear the extra burden not shared by rich, out-of-county “non-profits” who purchase Adams County land using grant funds paid for by taxpayers. These lands are permanently set aside from any sort of development or commercial activity that would increase the county’s tax base.
“Digging a little deeper” into the issue of tax-exempt lands, as Ms. Grove suggests, shines a spotlight on fundamental unfairness. Who in Adams County voted to set aside thousands of acres, thus subsidizing the rich elites who organize these huge land grabs? In their superior wisdom they have decided for us, the citizens and taxpayers of Adams County, that we should foot the bill for their good intentions. Let’s put that to a vote.
An Adams County resident since 1997, Steve Boehme is a local Adams County businessman and political commentator, who published the Adams County CROSSROADS magazine from 2005 until 2019.
