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Catch the latest News from MSRPO
All members of MSRPO receive our newsletter chock full
of news you can use. Learn more about issues that affect
your recreational property and how MSRPO is using your
membership dollars to carry our fight
to
the
legislature.
In the latest issue you could read about:
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Independent research shows the true demographics
of the average seasonal property owner in Minnesota.
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Winner of the "Booby Prize” to
the cabin owner with the biggest percent increase
in their property tax bill in a single year (would
you believe over 300%)!
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Strategies for passing along your property
to your heirs (without forcing them to sell).
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And much, much more.
All members of MSRPO—regardless of how much or how
little they can contribute—receive the newsletter,
and brief "Email Blasts" that alert you to events
in your area, bills that have reached a critical stage
in the legislature, and advice you can't afford to miss.
The newsletter is one more powerful reason to join
MSRPO today. Why not check out all
the other reasons why a membership in MSRPO makes sense.
MSRPO Email Blasts
To keep appraised of issues and events as they happen sign up to receive MSRPO Email Blasts or read them below.
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Annual Meeting Highlights - 2007
This year's 2007 Annual Meeting looked at the Environmental Consequences of our current Property Tax System, particularly as it relates to the growing concern over global climate change.
The guest speaker was John Stetson, a team member of Will Steger's polar expeditions, and John gave a compelling presentation of the changes he has seen in his 30 plus years of polar exploration, and what these future changes will mean to Minnesota's environment.
Here are some excerpts from the presentation Executive Director Jeff
Forester gave at the annual meeting:
Seasonal property owners are in crisis – the land they own is in crisis –
* Insects infestations have damaged millions of acres of forests….
* Extreme wind events have taken a huge toll on owners and the land.
* After a century of fire suppression, and resulting fuel build up, combined with insects and wind-throw and drought, wild fires have been getting larger and more destructive.
* And development has been accelerating, driving up property taxes and
fragmenting forests, particularly on industrial forests. This will put
ever increasing pressure on family forest owners to provide benefits and
leadership in the stewardship of Minnesota’s forests.
The Blandin Foundation and the Bell Natural History Museum put together an excellent series on the history of Minnesota. Here is an excerpt that explores the development crisis in the Lake Country. Here is a link to an excellent video that was shown at the meeting that looks at the issue of Forest Fragmentation. Property taxes are the driving force behind this problem: Check out the University of Minnesota's Bell Natural History Museum video at this website.
Minnesota is one degree warmer than it was in the 1920s. Climatologists predict at least another three degree rise in the next century, perhaps as much as ten or twelve degrees.
This change will cause major ecological shifts. Since seasonal owners
steward the majority of the forest in the state, the burden to adapt and
manage these changes will fall disproportionately on them.
Water Quality is also on everyone’s mind –
Research in New York, Maine, Wisconsin and Minnesota have all shown that people will pay much more for land adjacent to pristine waters. On large lakes like Leech, managing the water quality is worth billions. For a one foot decrease in water clarity, the value of a front foot of shoreline can drop by as much as $250.
Limnologists have determined that phosphorous is the main culprit – and once again, research shows that it is the choices the seasonal owners make that can have the biggest impact on water quality in Minnesota.
Is it wise to have a tax system that forces them to make decisions that
damage this resource?
There has been a watershed shift in just the last few years. Word has
gotten out.
In 1994, the year MSRPO started, I was living in Ely working on research for my book Forest for the Trees: How Humans Shaped the Northwoods.
I realized that the ad valorem tax had a huge impact on the viability of
sustainable forestry. In 1895, as conservation was just getting off the
ground, Minnesota passed the Forest Auxiliary Act The law stated that….This tax forfeiture land became National Forests, and was lost to the tax base forever.
Other organizations, thirty of them in fact from a broad coalition of
advocacy groups, forestry associations, government groups and environmental groups, have come to the same conclusion, and have signed on with legislation to help correct this problem. The ad valorem tax is broken, and provides strong incentives that run contrary to the larger public good.
Here is what we know – seasonal owners are the largest forest ownership block in the state, they do not want to sell their land, and have owned it for a remarkable 25 years on average, yet they are selling. Their land is being subdivided and developed.
MSRPO must continue to spread this connection to other groups, to lake
associations, soil and water conservation districts, county boards,
legislators. Blandin has put together a powerful force to this end, and we
are very, very grateful for their work, and honored to be a part of it..
Our long term goal is to completely rewrite the ad valorem tax.
The first phase of conservation work was in the early twentieth century.
Almost fifty years ago people realized the value of wilderness land.
And now it is WE that will carry on the critical work of the Twenty First
Century.
Our strategy has worked in the past, and it will work in the future. And we
will be providing you with good tools to help in this work. All of them are
available on our web site, which remains an evolving work in progress.
Here is our latest tool. I try to speak at as many lake associations as
possible, but there are dozens of meetings every weekend. I cannot get to them all. So we have created a DVD that members can use to help them spread the word. It will play on any DVD player or computer with a DVD reader. We can send a disc, or you can download it from our web site.
And now I'd like to introduce John Stetson.
Legislative Session Update - 2008
2008 Legislative Achievements
The session started with a $1 billion deficit, and so there was no chance for any reform that was not revenue neutral.
Still, we did accomplish some significant progress.
Rural Vacant Land Classification – Class 2b – Managed Forest Class 2c
Qualifying land –2b
rural vacant land –unplatted, not used for ag. - ancillary non residential buildings okay
- at least 20 acres
- can split classify, keeping at least 10 acres with residential structure, and at least 20 acres in the new class 2b
- Benefits
- Land removed from State General Tax
- Class 2b supercedes the “Highest and Best Use” principle of land assessment – must be assessed as rural vacant land even if it is adjacent to water, or in a high recreational use area for instance.
Qualifying land-2c Manages Forest Land
At least 20 acres, no more that 1,920 acres
Managed under a forest management plan under 290C but not enrolled in the Sustainable Forest Resource Management Incentive Program (SFI)
Must apply annually to the assessor to receive the reduced class rate and DNR must certify annually that the land qualifies
Class rate is .65
Exempt from state general tax
Assessment Practice Changes
MSRPO has long argued that assessment practices are discriminatory, the meetings are held when most people cannot attend, and we have no recourse with capricious assessment practices.
Changes to Assessment Practices
Now, the commissioner of Revenue is required to review the assessment practices in a taxing district I requested in writing by the greater of:
Ten percent of the registered voters
Five property owners
It also requires the commissioner to report the findings to the taxing jurisdiction and to the property owner designated in the request.
County Board of Review Notices
New language allows county boards of review to conduct meetings of Saturdays. It will also require counties that conduct either regular board meetings or open book meetings to hold at least one meeting each year that does not end before 7pm. Additionally it requires counties that require taxpayer appointments to include some available times that extend until al least 7pm.
Valuation Notices
Requires the valuation notice to provide information about the availability of data used by the assessor to determine the value or property, including the location of the information, the times when those locations are open to the public, and the counties website.
Taxation of Leased Lands
Progress was achieved however modestly on the taxation of lease lands. St. Louis County can continue is practice of assessing only the structure and not the land, unlike the other counties that continue to assess the full value of land and the structure.
Bills that did not pass –
1) Proposal to regulate the renting of cabins and hunting lands.
2) Inclusion of seasonal on excess operating levies, including a look back period that would have included the levies passed while seasonal was not eligible.
3) Regulation of Docks, new rules will have public input through the DNR rulemaking process
4) House plan to take away your ability to deduct your property taxes from your income tax.
