Bryan Davis,
Publisher
Enterprise-Tocsin,
I read your story in last week's paper about the Board of Supervisors meeting on February 20 discussing solar farms in Sunflower County. To meet the standard of full disclosure, my immediate family owns about 300 acres of farmland that a developer of solar projects may end up incorporating into a project if it decides to go ahead and clears all the regulatory hurdles. Those quoted in the story are all elected public officials or their appointees in positions of great influence.
The tenor of the story is that those officials quoted spoke of how 'to curb the number of solar farms that eventually come here.' No one is quoted as mentioning or even alluding to the right of a landowner to manage his/her land so that he/she improves their income and standard of living. This is a fundamental right of ownership of your land, whether it is a lot in town on which your home sits or a piece of land that someone farms, or which already has a solar farm located on it or under construction. The tenor of the article is as if the officials quoted assumed it is the county government's right to restrict one of the fundamental rights granted every citizen under common law.
Some Sunflower County acres, because of its location near a high voltage power line that runs north and south through about half the county's length, and which is underutilized, creating excess capacity, is fortunate to be an area of great interest to solar power developers. These developments, once completed, will generate much more of what county government desperately needs – a reliable source of additional tax money, money that can be used to repair our badly eroded infrastructure so as to attract new businesses to create new jobs.
Every citizen who owns a home, land, or buys an automobile tag now faces higher taxes to fund the bond issue for school improvements, which are needed for the future of our citizens. Part of the additional revenue from solar farm taxes could be used to reduce the taxes on other items, lowering the tax burden on every tax paying citizen of the county below what it otherwise would be.
The right of the landowners to lease or sell their land is too fundamental to be restricted.
The right of the Board of Supervisors to decide whether or not any fee in lieu of taxes, in effect reducing the taxes that would otherwise be paid on a developed solar farm, is their fundamental right and responsibility under state statutes.
Trying to restrict the number of solar farm acres by revising the permitting process or establishing a county zoning ordinance that would prohibit solar farm development of some owner's acres but not of others is a way to evade the fundamental responsibility of the Board to evaluate the merits of an application for a fee in lieu of taxes in open public session.
Thank you,
Woods Eastland
