Representatives of the Long Island Farm Bureau, the New York State Office of Real Property Services and the Nassau County Legislature are meeting at the Vernon School, in East Norwich on May 23 at 7:30 p.m. to talk about changing the way Nassau County taxes horse boarding barns, in an effort to preserve them. The school is located on the left (west) side of Route 106, as you head north from Northern Boulevard, Route 25A. It is just north of the East Norwich Fire house.

"Come, ask questions, vent, learn and then help change the land to agricultural status," said Barbara Palm, a member of the Muttontown Horsemen's Association that is hosting the event.

Nassau County barn owners, Nassau County barn managers and horse boarders in Nassau County are needed to help convince the Nassau County legislators to pass the law to tax boarding barns as agricultural lands to save the boarding barns.

The Farm Bureau and NYS representatives will provide support, information and advice concerning forms and bureaucratic language said Ms. Palm. She has been working on the issue with Kathleen Kleinman, president of the association. Ms. Kleinman has contacted members of the NC Legislature and Ms. Palm has been asking local assemblymen and senators to attend.

The issue involves changing the way horse barns are assessed. "If Nassau County is going to reassess property, then now is the time to apply for the agricultural assessment," said Ms. Palm.

She started her project in 1995, after an article in Horses Monthly (now defunct) alerted her to the issue of the NYS agricultural and market laws. The hope is to amend county law to have horse barns assessed at less than residential property.

She contacted the county and they seemed not to be aware of the concept. When she contacted the barn owners, at first they thought she was trying to profit from the change.

Horse barn owners are already being called on by developers who want to turn their property into houses to make money. They say, "Why do you want to mess with all these problems (taxes and insurance). I'll let you retire to Virginia where they are horse friendly," said Cylla Allison, president of the Nassau Suffolk Horsemen's Association. They with the help of Joe Gargola of the Long Island Farm Bureau, located in Riverhead, were able to encourage Suffolk County to adopt the 10-10-10 law.

That defines a horse farm for the state law as having 10 horses on 10 acres and making $10,000 a year. Here in Nassau County there are few that would qualify for that combination of things. Many horse farms have already been sold.

"If we can go for three acres, that would be more possible," said Ms. Palm. "There are a lot of people with three acre zoning. The Old Westury Horsemen's Association President John Shalam said his village has changed the Old Westbury law from a minimum two acre zoning to three acres. With three acres they can have three horses.

"It certainly is easy to make the $10,000 requirement because at a cost of one horse at $300 a month, with three horses you meet that requirement.

"So if it can be changed to three acres, they can encourage more people to take in horses in the area," said Ms. Palm.

This year, with Kathleen's help, she has reserved a time slot at the Vernon School for the year for meetings of the MHA. The last one was an educational meeting on horse safety.

She contacted Mark Twentyman, from the NYS Office of Real Property Services to talk on the subject.

Ms. Palm said "Nassau County and Tompkins County are the only two counties in NYS who assess their taxes differently than the others. This is part of the confusion in the issue

"Basically we want to have people hear what Mark has to say so we can keep more horses in NC, legally."

Joe Gargola will be unable to attend the meeting but he will meet later with those interested in amending the law.

She said on Mother's Day she and Ms. Kleinman were out with their horses on the local trails. They met people walking the trails, out enjoying themselves. They and their children enjoyed seeing the horses. The meeting runs from 7:30 p.m. to 9 p.m. in either the library or the cafeteria, according to how many people show up.

For more information call either Barbara Palm at 683-5697 or Kathleen Kleinman at 922-2320.