Well after six months of stewing about my neighbor calling code enforcement on me, I finally decided it’s time to move to the country. My wife and I have narrowed it down to eastern Sauk county, wisconsin. It’s a beautiful place, but man do they like real estate tax! They do have managed forest land that you can enter your land into for 25 or 50 years, and if you follow their rules, the taxes are ridiculously low.
I have found a few properties that are already in this program and one that is in a ‘conservatory easment’ program that sounds similar. My question is if any of you have had experience with these programs, is it worth the property tax savings to have the DNR controlling your property? What should I look out for? Basically, I want to know if it’s too good to be true.
It is an ok program from what I have heard. The tax break is good. They do have some control over the land. My friend went in and planted trees, but I think he was doing that on his own. I believe they will require you to higher a logger to thin the forest, but you get the money from the logs The one thing that I would object to is you have to allow open hunting on your land.TomC
Yes as Tom said be carful your land dose not become open to the public for hunting purposes. This will happen with some programs The DNR took possession of a strip of land on either side of a trout stream running through my property. Now it has become impossible for me to gain access to the land on the other side of the stream other than by foot. I am only taxed at a higher rate on the one acre that I kept all my structures bunched on the rest is taxed at a much lower rate as productive forest. It is in no special program just that a productive forest Unfourtionitly what it produces falls to the ground and rots because to access it I would need a 300’ plus bridge that a trout fisherman could walk under. If I ever won the lottery it is where I would build my new home with a drawbridge across my moat.
DTA. Don’t trust anyone. If someone from that agency tells you something you like about their programs make sure to get it in writing. Our government has many well paid liars just looking to get all the control they can.
Not sure where Sauk county is but Douglas county the one just to my north sure likes to tax it land owners as well. It is amazing how drastically rates vary from one county to the next
I have had land in a couple of government programs, but not any more!
There is no free lunch.
There are usually many programs available to land owners for various things; some relate to open land and some to forests, swampy land, etc…
Back in the '70s we had land in the Wisconsin “Woodland Tax law” and I think that was the best “no worries” program they ever had, but it’s never to be seen again, I’m sure. When that program was over, they offered us the “new” version. Taxes went up a bunch and so did government controls. I declined.
Ever since, if you are in a government program, they get to hound you incessantly to do this or don’t do that,— or ELSE! In a couple of cases, if you do screw up. you can be fined heavily, taken out of the program and have to pay back any tax relief that you had accrued. You REALLY have to read ALL the fine print!!!
Finally, you may choose a program that you are comfortable with, but what about the next owner? Or your kids? In some cases, the new owner MUST sign on to take over whatever government contract you signed up for or, NO DEAL unless you want to pay all the previously mentioned costs of extracting yourself from the contract.
In my view you are signing away your future. Think of all the life-changes that could occur where what once sounded like a good idea (moving to the country) looses its luster, where you’d have to face those issues.
The hunting issue---- If that is allowed in the program you choose, think about getting shot in the head by some city slicker out to kill anything that moves while you are having a picnic in “your own” woods. IIRC, ANYBODY can go to the local DNR office to see the list of properties where its okay to hunt.
If you are young enough, you might be able to survive with a 10 year program, but no way would I enter a 25 or 50 year contract with the government.
Do you get the idea that I have an opinion on this?
Pete Stanaitis
I’m reading more and more on this and the more I read the less interested I am, but the tax savings are sugstantial. The one that really shocked me was te ‘Conservation Easment’. I have emailed the realtor on this in hopes of reading the specific one placed on this property, but from what I’ve read, the owner of the property has sold some of the rights that a normal property owner would have to a Land Trust or government agency. This limits the uses of this land ‘in perpetuity’. This particular property is forested with a nice home on it that would suit me well, but I have no idea what the future holds for me or the area. I likely wouldn’t be able to sell off part of the acreage, build a second dwelling on it, or do any further development…forever! That’s just crazy! Why would anyone agree to that? I’m sure they got a nice check out of it, but now they can’t sell their property for a decent price.
I’m starting to wonder if the reason the property taxes are so high on land that isn’t in these government programs is because they have to make up for the tax that’s not being collected from the managed forest land.
Also, if property owners are selling the rights to their land, I’m guessing the taxpayers are the ones paying for it, and as a taxpayer, I’m not cool with that.
I just got a copy of the Conservation Easement, and man is it restrictive! The entire property including the home, garage and lawn are included, and they can’t make any substantial changes to any of it! They sold nearly all of their property rights for $48,000. Now they can’t sell their home, and they’ve already moved out. What a sad story.
I’ve been in the current use program in Vermont for a little over 40 years. We have 31 acres that’s been in the family for a while enrolled. I have to have an approved management plan . I log it and get our firewood out. It’s good I have a full time job because I definitely haven’t made money on the logging. I like working in the woods and the challenge of trying to improve the stand for forestry, soil health, and wildlife habitat. We couldn’t afford to pay the taxes if we weren’t in the program.
Around here another option I didn’t mention before is a fence and some cattle. A good fence will cost you some money up front but by running a few head of cattle you can save some money on the taxes and not give up control of your land. You can even rent the pasture to make some extra cash.
Jim:
Regarding “a few head of cattle”:
Depending on where you live, the real estate assessors often have rules about How MANY head it will take to qualify as “farm land”. And, even if the don’t have a set rule today, they or the government agency for whom they work could and do change things as time goes on. (Seldom in your favor) We used to make and sell some maple syrup here. We used to be able to declare the whole woods as crop land, but recently they changed the rules so you have to be tapping X trees per acre to be able to declare it for production. I think our neighbors are having trouble with “head of cattle” right now.
I am sure you are right Pete. I had just happened to think of a friend of mine working to get more of his land fenced as I know it saves him a lot of money. He does have several hundred acers and run a few hundred head. of beef through the summer months.
About 7 yrs ago my wooded hunting land was going to be taxed higher as recreational land. The hike was steep 4X. I’m not a fan of government programs regarding land management. A friend suggested I turn my wooded land into pasture land which is taxed at a very low rate. So I fenced in a 40 and the Amish put a few cows in for the summer months every year and as long as there is a fence and cow pies I get the lower tax rate. I discussed this at the township open book meeting with the tax assessor She had no problem with my intention. When I asked the township what they will do about the loss of revenue because of my lower taxes they said the short fall is made up by spreading it over the rest of the township taxpayers. So I’m just doing what everyone else is doing. There were so many wooded parcels that had so little tax burden because they were on the books as pasture land and yet you would be hard pressed to find a cow pie. So I play the game too except I polyurethane the cow pies and reuse them every year : )