Must wetland subject to a permanent conservation easement be assessed at wetland value for tax purposes?

Oberloh v. County of Nobles, 1999 WL 436791 (Minn. Tax 1999).

Property owners placed a perpetual conservation easement on 88.2 acres of their land under the Reinvest in Minnesota Resources Law, Minn. Stat. § 103F.501. Under the easement, the owners were required in perpetuity to comply with wetland management practices and refrain from using the property for any purpose inconsistent with a wetland status. The owners received a one-time payment of $80,000 from the State.

The Noble County Tax Assessor refused to revalue the land subject to the easement. The refusal was based on the one-time payment received and on the Assessor's determination that the highest and best use of the land was not as wetland. The Court directed the assessor to revalue the land, finding that although there once may have been higher and better uses of the land, those uses are now foreclosed. The court looked to the language of Minn. Stat. § 273.11, subd. 11, which states: "Wetlands . . . preserved under the terms of a . . . perpetual easement by the federal or state government, must be valued by assessors at their wetland value. . . . Wetland value shall not reflect . . . any one-time payment received by the wetland owner under the terms of a state or federal conservation easement."

^ top