Green Acres tax relief still up for debate

The state Office of the Legislative Auditor issued a report this month on the state of “Green Acres,” a program that gives many McLeod County farmers property tax relief.

The report offers suggestions for tweaking the program, but none of them address McLeod County Assessor Sue Schulz’s concerns that local farmland valuations could increase this year by as much as 35 percent to 58 percent.

According to Schulz, the problem started after the Department of Revenue took over setting valuations for Green Acres, originally established so farmers can have their property taxes calculated based on what their land is worth as farmland, and not its actual market value.

The Department of Revenue originally proposed determining Green Acres values based on actual crop production levels and soil types, a system that made a lot of sense to Schulz. Instead, the department ultimately decided to use five counties in the southwest corner of Minnesota as a benchmark and base all other counties’ valuations as a percentage of those counties’ ag land values.

Schulz doesn’t understand why McLeod County was originally estimated at 90 percent of that benchmark, or $2,700 per acre, then revised to 110 percent, or $3,300 per acre.

At a Jan. 31 meeting of township officials, Schulz said she hadn’t received a good explanation for the jump. That’s still the case.

Meanwhile, the recently published Legislative Auditor’s report is unlikely to give Schulz and other concerned assessors ammunition.

The report contends, “ … most county assessors in counties with Green Acres land reported that they find this method provides reasonably acceptable valuation estimates … The Department of Revenue should continue its efforts to make the Green Acres Program more consistent statewide.”

(Jorge Sosa is a staff writer for the Hutchinson Leader. He can be reached at sosa@hutchinsonleader.com)