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Committee hears bill to allow metropolitan counties to revalue properties with conservation easements; laid over as amended
Summary
Senate File 2199 would let assessors in metropolitan counties reduce property values for private lands subject to conservation easements if the county board adopts the approach; the committee adopted an A2 amendment and laid the bill over.
Senate File 2199, presented to the Senate Taxes Committee on March 18, would permit county assessors in the seven-county metropolitan area to reduce the taxable value of private property subject to a conservation restriction or easement when the county has adopted the approach by board resolution. Senator Scott Dibble, the bill’s sponsor, said the proposal restores the ability of local assessors to reflect easement-related changes in highest-and-best-use valuation that was constrained by 2013 law.
Wayne Ausley, director of land protection at Minnesota Land Trust, told the committee the 2013 change created uneven assessment outcomes across counties and between landowners who placed easements before or after 2013. Hennepin County’s Christine Mower, program manager for Habitat Conservation, said landowners routinely stop pursuing easements after learning their property taxes cannot be adjusted, discouraging private conservation.
Landowner Connie LaFond testified that she placed about 53 acres in a conservation easement in February 2024, received roughly $200,000 from an Outdoor Heritage Fund grant, and said tax clarity would help owners decide whether to protect land. The Association of Minnesota Counties told the committee it supports the amended, targeted approach limited to metropolitan counties, noting past controversies in which large easements in some regions caused significant shifts in the local tax base.
The A2 amendment, adopted in committee, confines the bill’s relief to conservation easements in metropolitan counties and preserves a path for county boards to adopt valuation practices locally. The committee laid the amended bill over for further consideration; no final passage vote was recorded.
Supporters argued the bill would expand conservation by reducing financial uncertainty for landowners and make state conservation grants go further. AMC and county staff urged caution about tax-shift impacts in some counties and thanked Senator Dibble for collaboration on a targeted approach.
