A public informational meeting will be held Nov. 18
at the Scott County Law Enforcement Center, located in the same building as the Scott County Jail, starting at 6:30 p.m. to discuss the legal changes to the Gren Acres program and answer questions you might have regarding
them.
By enrolling in the Green Acres program, taxes are lower on agricultural land than they would be otherwise. More information on this meeting from the county is below:
IMPORTANT NOTICE
REGARDING: CHANGES TO ‘GREEN
ACRES’ PROPERTY TAX LAW
Introduction:
The 2008 Tax Bill, signed into law
in May 2008, made several major changes to the Minnesota Agricultural Property
Tax Law, commonly known as Green Acres.
These changes may affect your Green Acres enrollment and/or payback. The purpose of this letter is to explain the
law changes so that you will be able to make an informed decision on whether to
alter your Green Acres tax deferment to best fit your specific situation for
the long-term. Please read this letter
carefully and if you have further questions, call the County Assessor for additional information.
Green Acres Changes
for the 2009 (pay 2010) Assessment
For any applications filed with the county assessor after May
1, 2008,
only some types of acres will be eligible for Green Acres:
·
Productive acres will remain eligible for the program. These acres are tilled, grazed, or mowed for
hay. You may leave these acres in the
program as is. Nothing has changed for
acres that are used for agricultural production.
·
Non-productive acres will be valued at their full estimated market value and
will not be eligible for the reduced, agricultural valuation provided by Green
Acres. Non-productive acres include
sloughs, wetlands, heavy woods, or land too rocky to be tilled or pastured.
Under the previous standard, if you had enough productive
acres (at least ten), any contiguous non-productive acres under the same
ownership were also included in the Green Acres program. That will not be the case for applications
filed after May
1, 2008.
Enrollment Options
If your property is currently
receiving Green Acres benefits and it includes non-productive acres, you may
choose to have those non-productive acres ‘grandfathered’ into the program for
future years, OR you may choose to withdraw all or some of the non-productive
acres. You must make your selection and notify the assessor in writing
by completing this form and returning it to the assessor on or before January
2, 2009.
Payback Provision
This legislation also changed the number of payback years
when parcels, or portions of parcels, no longer qualify for Green Acres. They are outlined below:
If you intend to voluntarily withdraw some or all of your productive or
non-productive acres:
1. You must notify the assessor of
your intent by completing the attached form and returning it to the assessor on
or before January 2, 2009.
2. The assessor will calculate the
payback amount which is the average deferred taxes for the current year and two
previous years’ multiplied by three (not to exceed the actual number of years
enrolled in Green Acres).
3. Any deferred special assessments
will be due on any full parcels withdrawn.
If only a portion of a parcel is withdrawn, the special assessments may
continue to be deferred. Interest will
continue to accrue on any special assessments that are deferred.
4. The assessor will notify you of
the payback amount during the summer of 2009.
Following this notification, you must make your final determination as
to whether or not you wish to formally withdraw any part of your land from
Green Acres.
5. These deferred taxes and special
assessments will be due by November 15, 2009.
* If you sell your property on or before January 2, 2009, the non-productive acres that are sold cannot be
grandfathered into Green Acres and a three year payback must be
collected.
If you choose to have your non-productive acres
grandfathered into the Green Acres program, you may do so. However, this cannot be done without
conditions. As of January 2, 2009 and
later, if all or any portion of your property currently enrolled in
Green Acres is withdrawn, sold, transferred (which includes transfers into
Trusts, LLC’s, children, spouse etc) or subdivided:
1. You must pay back the average
deferred taxes for the current and two previous years times SEVEN for ALL non-productive
acres (not to exceed the actual number of years enrolled in Green Acres);
2. Any deferred special assessments
will also be due on any full parcels removed.
If only a portion of a parcel is withdrawn, the special assessments may
continue to be deferred. Interest will
continue to accrue on any special assessments that are deferred.
Future paybacks for
productive acres will remain at three years (not to exceed the actual
number of years enrolled in Green Acres).
Valuation
If you choose to leave the
non-productive acres in the Green Acres program, the ‘grandfathered’ acres will
be valued at the lower, agricultural value that was shown on your 2008 value
notice. For the 2009 assessment and future
years, the 2008 value of the non-productive acres will increase at the rate of
growth of the county tax base. The value of your productive acres will
continue to be based on the Green Acres values determined annually for each
county by the Department of Revenue.
Any non-productive acres that are removed from Green Acres will be
valued at their estimated market value.
They will no longer be valued at their agricultural value.
Please consider these options
carefully to determine which option is best for you. Please complete the enclosed form and return
it to us as soon as possible before January 2, 2009.
Over the next several months we will estimate your payback amount and
send you a new notice with that amount.
Included with that notice, will be another form, that you will need to
send back to the assessor’s office, to formally withdraw the land from Green
Acres. If you have additional questions,
please contact the assessor’s office.
Green Acre Applications
In December, we will be sending
out new Green Acres Applications.
Everyone will be required to reapply.
Please
return all correspondence to:
Scott
County Department of Taxation
200 4th
Avenue W
Shakopee, MN 55379