Western Maryland Farm Causes a Stink in Annapolis

I agree with those who think that something stinks about a state deal for a Western Maryland farm owner who also serves as a state delegate. Apparently, the state agreed to pay the delegate from Western Maryland $427,000 in exchange for a promise not to develop farm land in Garrett County. Actually, the deal cost Maryland about $455,000 because it also picked up the tab for the appraisal and other fees totaling nearly $28,000. The story appears in this morning’s Maryland Daily Record.

Del. Wendell Beitzel said that there was nothing wrong with his participation in the state’s Rural Legacy Program because he applied through the same channels available to anyone else. But according to the Daily Record, the delegate had been involved with the Program (which is run by the Department of Natural Resources) for the last 11 years. From 1998 to 2002, he was a commissioner on the board that oversees the Program. And during that time the board established so-called “priority funding tiers” that value certain properties over others based on location.   The farm falls in one of the highest priority funding zones that the Program’s board established. Del. Beitzel points out that he did not own the farm when the priority tiers were created.  But I’d be willing to bet the farm that his cousin did.  

And so, five years after he served on the board, in 2007, Delegate Beitzel purchased the farm for $400,000. Apparently he promised his cousin that the land would not be developed. But it was the state that paid the delegate to keep his word. 

There are a number of things that smell about this transaction that need no further explanation.  But even if Del. Beitzel did nothing technically unethical, I have to question why the state paid him more in 2011 for land purchased in 2007.   Everyone knows that property values have plummeted over the past four years.  Bear Stearns collapsed in March of 2008, the year after Del. Beitzel bought his cousin’s farm. And we all know what happened to the real estate market after that. Western Maryland has been hit particularly hard.  Yet apparently the value of Del. Beitzel’s farm increased. And how was the price paid to the delegate determined?  Apparently, from appraisals performed in 2008. 

I wish I could get a loan—actually, a gift—to wipe away my mortgage (plus an extra chunk of change) based on the value of my home in 2008.  The state's decision impacts us all because we, the taxpayers, paid for it.

Comptroller Peter Franchot questioned why the state would pay someone not to develop farm land in Garrett County by asking, “What development is going on out there that I’m unaware of?”  I hear that he also offered to buy a steak dinner to someone who could find him an example.  Perhaps he should have offered pork.