Ag2School passes
During the 2017 Minnesota legislative session, a provision known as Ag2School was included in the tax bill. This bill was passed by the Minnesota Legislature and signed by Governor Dayton. Ag2School will greatly help reduce taxes for agricultural land owners. It’s designed to bring some tax relief, as there was an inequitable amount of school facility funding paid by this group of people.
Ag2School provides a tax reduction to ag owners by creating a 40 percent credit on the taxes paid on farmland for school bonds. Starting with the 2018 tax year (January 1, 2018), these funds previously paid by ag owners will now be paid by the State of Minnesota directly to the school.
This reduction of taxes will NOT be shifted to any other tax payer (such as homeowners, or businesses) within the school district. This bill has no sunset clause, which means the bill is ongoing and has no end point written into it. For it to change, a future legislature and governor would have to come to an agreement to revise it.
“This obviously has a big impact on our district as a large percentage of our school funding comes from ag land owners,” said Superintendent Dan Deitte, speaking for the Minneota School Board.
“As you likely know, the Minneota School Board will be holding a bond referendum vote on August 22, 2017 (absentee ballots will be available starting July 7 in the school’s district office).” The board is asking the voters to approve funds to make facility improvements in the Minneota Public School such as plumbing and electrical repairs, flooring, windows, expansion of student learning space, etc.
For the ag owners in the Minneota School District, $225,000 will be saved annually on past combined school bonds, and if the August 22, 2017 bond election vote passes, an additional $118,000 will be saved by ag owners annually.
“Amazingly, if the bond vote passes on August 22, the ag land owners in the Minneota School District will actually pay less school taxes on their ag land per year than they are paying currently, due to the 40 percent reduction,” said Deitte and the Minneota School Board.
For example, if you own 300 homesteaded acres, you currently pay $1,714.00 in school taxes a year on those acres. If the vote passes, you will now owe $1,639.00 taxes a year. That is an annual total reduction of $75.00 in taxes.
In all cases, the school tax impact on ag land will be reduced, even if the building bond election passes on August 22. To learn more, visit the school website at www.minneotaschools.org and click on the tab in the middle of the page that reads “August 22, 2017 Building Bond Election Details.”
There is more information on the school’s website that will help you understand why the school board is holding the election. Public meeting set on proposed project
The Minneota School Board would like to invite you to attend a community meeting to learn more about this proposed project: at 7 p.m., Tuesday, June 27 at the Minneota Public School Choir Room.
The agenda will include a tour of the areas proposed for improvement, followed by a slide show featuring renderings of the improvements, tax impacts, and a question and answer session.