Senate Agriculture Committee Chair Patty Ritchie, R-Heuvelton says a bill recently signed into law is designed to help a family member inheriting a farm through a trust and also inherit the tax credit the previous family farm operator was receiving.

This could benefit St. Lawrence County residents, where agriculture is one of the largest industries, Ritchie said.

Under previous law, the Farmer’s School Tax Credit—which provides a tax credit to farmers to as a reimbursement for some or all of the school district property taxes they pay—allowed a farmer to bequeath his or her farm—and that tax credit—to a family member, as long as the farm was not held in trust.

Senator Ritchie’s bill amends the Farmer’s School Tax Credit Law to include farms transferred to a family member through a trust.

This bill received unanimous support in both the Senate and Assembly before the Governor signed it into law Monday.

Ritchie represents the western half of St. Lawrence County including Ogdensburg, Canton and Gouverneur.

“There are a significant number of family farms using trusts as a tool to transfer the property onto the family’s next generation,” Ritchie said in a news release. “This bill helps ensure that our hardworking, older farm generation can retire, knowing their children will receive this important tax credit, allowing them to continue operating the farm and helping to protect the future of New York’s leading industry.”