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County property tax statements were not sent out on time
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By Charlie Warner
Argus News Editor
Houston County Assessor Tom Dybing brought some startling news to the county board during the April 1 meeting…and it wasn’t an April fool’s joke.
“We submitted our files to New Business Systems to have our proposed property tax and local board of appeal and equalization meeting notices processed and sent out, and just found out they were not sent out in time,” Dybing explained. “We told them we needed to have the notices in the mail by March 21 and found out on March 25 that they would not be sent out until March 31.
“Our first equalization meetings are scheduled for April 1 and I doubt if some residents will even have their notices by then. This just isn’t acceptable,” he told the board.
The first meetings were scheduled on April 1 for the city of Hokah, city of Eitzen and Winnebago Township. Appeal and equalization meetings held April 2 were Brownsville city and Spring Grove Township, and on April 3 for Money Creek, Sheldon, and Union townships.
Dybing said the county has utilized New Business Systems the past three years and not had any problems. The company processes the information, prints the proposed property tax statements, addresses the envelopes and sends out the mass mailing to all property owners in the county. Unfortunately, some glitch developed at the St. Cloud-based company, and the statements and notices were not sent out on time.
After reviewing the possible options, Dybing recommended the meetings be held as scheduled, but those held on April 1, 2, and 3 rescheduled in May if affected property owners request a second meeting.
“Property owners will have their valuation statements, and we will just send them out a post card letting them know about a follow-up meeting in May,” Dybing added. “We won’t be reconvening a second meeting unless people request it. But we will offer the option to them.”
Contracting an outside agency to handle this large task is not unique to Houston County. Most of the smaller counties in the state utilize companies like New Business Systems. And having glitches like this crop up are not unique to Houston County either. Dybing reported that recently Winona County had their statements printed upside down.
“It’s something that can happen. We just need to get the word out what happened, and how we plan to correct it,” the assessor stated.
Green Acres tax issues
Dybing informed the board there is a movement in St. Paul to have woodland and wasteland taken out of the Green Acres Tax Deferment Program.
The Agricultural Property Tax Law is a Minnesota Statute, commonly referred to as “Green Acres.” It allows bare farmland to be valued for tax purposes on its agricultural value, rather than its future development potential or highest and best use value.
These “green acres” are entitled to valuation and tax deferments. Otherwise, taxes on potential development land could get so high they would force farmers off the land prematurely.
According to Dybing, Houston County has 302,000 agricultural acres, of which 231,000 acres are part of the Green Acres program. And of that 231,000 acres, 47 percent is either woodland, creekland, river bottom, sloughs, or Mississippi River backwater.
“If this legislation is passed, it could adversely impact many property owners in Houston, Fillmore, and Winona counties,” Dybing said. “I plan to go to St. Paul to testify against the proposed bills in both the House and Senate.”
Certain requirements must be met to qualify for green acres. First the property must qualify for agricultural classification for property tax purposes. If the ag class is met, then:
•The real estate must consist of ten or more deeded acres.
•The real estate must have been in possession of the applicant or immediate family member for at least seven years prior to application for benefits OR the real estate must be the homestead of the owner, or a surviving family member of that homestead.
•The real estate must be actively and exclusively devoted to agricultural use and is within four townships or cities or combinations thereof from other qualifying real estate.
Real property shall be considered to be in agricultural use provided that annually:
•At least 1/3 of the total family income of the owner is derived from the farm, or the total production income including rental from the property is at least $300 plus $10 per tillable acre.
•Applications for deferment of the taxes and assessment must be filed by May 1 of the year prior to the year in which the taxes are payable.
•If the property is sold and will continue to be used for agricultural purposes, the new owner has 30 days from the date of sale to apply for continued green acres.
•If the property is sold and it is used for purposes other than agriculture, the green acres is stopped. Taxes are then calculated on the present (non-agricultural) valuation of the land for the previous three years.
Taxes are due at this higher determined rate because the green acres exemption helped the farmer keep the land longer, thus benefiting from the increased value of the land.
You can contact Charlie Warner at
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