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Change in ‘Green Acres’ tax law may have major impact on property owners
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By Charlie Warner
Argus News Editor
Several months ago Houston County Assessor Tom Dybing warned of a movement in St. Paul to have woodland and wasteland taken out of the Green Acres Tax Deferment Program.
That movement became law during the final week of the recently completed legislative session. Dybing was on hand at the June 17 Houston County Board meeting to discuss the change in the tax law, which will have quite an adverse effect on rural property owners.
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.
“This change in the law will have a huge impact in Houston, Fillmore, and Winona counties,” Dybing told the board. “Much of the green acres land was valued at $750 per acre, while regular woodland is valued at $2,800 per acre. For persons losing the green acres designation, they will be taxed an additional $2,100 per acre.”
Dybing said property owners who currently have their land enrolled in the green acres program will not lose the designation. But persons considering selling acreage currently in the program will not only lose the designation on those acres, but will have to pay back a portion of the tax break they received through the program.
“There’s still a lot of negotiating going on as to just how this will be handled,” Dybing said. “The Department of Revenue will be putting together a letter outlining the various options and sending it to each county. We will then, in turn, send the notification letter out to all of our property owners currently enrolled in the program.
“There’s still a lot of issues up in the air. It hasn’t all been spelled out to us yet,” Dybing continued. “People will want to know how this new legislation is going to impact them. I was at a conference in Mankato last week dealing with this, and we asked a lot more questions than we got answers.”
You can contact Charlie Warner at
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