Commentary; Posted: 6/20/07
No heart in county assessor's farm ruling
By Cliff Buchan
Go by the letter of the law and the Washington County Assessor’s Office may be justified in recommending the removal of the Green Acres status and the change in tax classification from agriculture to residential for the Mansmith tree farm operation in Forest Lake. But look beneath the surface of the situation and there are underlying facts that demonstrate the assessor’s office is being too rigid in this decision.
To maintain the agriculture classification, state law specifies that a minimum of 10 acres or more are used for agriculture purposes. The Mansmiths have just under 13 acres of property on the northwestern border of the city. When the entire operation is considered, the owners are utilizing about eight acres for the business with another five acres wetland or lowland and not suitable for growing Christmas trees.
There are reasons to leave the classification unchanged and the county could legitimately do so. The Forest Lake City Council, acting as the local board of equalization, reversed the recommendation of the assessor’s office in May, agreeing with the Mansmiths, and feeling the change was too harsh in light of the land use and its history.
Under state law, the county can grant exceptions to the state’s 10 acre requirement if it determines that the property is “exclusively and intensively used for raising or cultivating agriculture products.” In remaining firm on its recommendation to change the classification, the assessor’s office has relied on an opinion from the county attorney’s office that questions the exclusive and intensive use on the tree farm and classifies the growing of Christmas trees as “passive.”
On Tuesday, the county’s board of appeals would not break from the assessor’s recommendation. A 3-2-1 vote defeated a motion to keep the old classification. One option that remains for the Mansmiths is a costly appeal to the state tax court.
Some hope also remains that the state revenue department will issue a ruling favoring the Mansmith opinion. Commissioner Dennis Hegberg of Forest Lake who supported keeping the classification as is, said Tuesday he will personally ask the state department to intervene.
Anyone with any knowledge about growing trees — and Christmas trees in particular — should chuckle at the legal opinion that backed the assessor’s recommendation. Tree farming is far from passive. We’d be willing to bet that any official of the assessor’s office or the county attorney’s office who spent a week in the summer working on the farm would come away with a different view. The product the Mansmiths grow is exclusive and the work is intensive — that’s fact.
While the crop may not be corn or soybeans that are havested each year, trees are an agricultural product that are planted, nurtured and harvested over many years of sweat equity by the owners and the farm hands they employ. To judge the operation in any other fashion is wrong.
There is also a practical reason for the county to relax standards in this situation. This is not a case that poses a financial crisis for the owners. The property tax increase would be significant but not unmanageable. This is more a matter of principle.
At a time when the county is crying for more open space and in 2006 persuaded voters to OK tax levies to achieve that result, the county is willing to take action that would push one landowner to change a land use that sustains open space.
The service that the Mansmith farm provides may also become a thing of the past as this area becomes more urban if Green Acres provisions are stripped away. With 40 years to their credit, the Mansmiths labored and patiently waited for their farming business to mature.
With today’s land prices, how could any young couple even consider a business venture that can’t be started overnight? It might be possible on a smaller-scale operation where the land investment cost would be less, but without agriculture status, it would be impossible.
We can only wonder why the county remained so insistent upon a hard line in this case when the rules allow otherwise. Are not governments established to allow variances and special use permits in special circumstances where a valid use might otherwise not be possible?
The county is off base if it feels granting an exception would set precedent for future cases. Exceptions can be granted and should be decided case by case.
The Washington County Board of Commissioners had the authority to act in a similar fashion as the city council did and could have ruled that an exception was warranted. They would not. It is clear that no compassion and common sense is left in our county government.
Forest Lake Times
P.O. Box 218
880 SW 15 St.
Forest Lake, MN 55025
651-464-4601
Fax 651-464-4605