The Madison County Board of Supervisors voted to advertise and schedule a public hearing on an ordinance amendment to consider a tax exemption for forestry mulching equipment.

Staff explained the statutory background and prior county action to exempt forestry harvesting equipment. The commissioner of revenue outlined administrative rules used to determine exemptions: equipment must be used exclusively for forestry harvesting to qualify and equipment used across multiple lines of business is generally not eligible. "If it's a piece of equipment that could be used for multiple, you know, excavation, forestry, et cetera, we would look at it as...not exclusive to the forestry operation," staff said.

Citizen applicant Mr. Claflin told the board his business focuses on forestry mulching for forest health and invasive-species control, saying, "I'm in the business of mulching and I'm in the business of trying to improve the health of the forest." He asked the county to treat silviculture equipment the same as logging equipment for exemption purposes. Board members and staff discussed administrative complexity, proration limitations (there is no local proration to split exempt vs. taxable use), and that state sales-tax and property-tax rules can trigger retroactive assessments if equipment is not used exclusively as claimed.

The board directed staff to draft ordinance language, advance the tax-exempt request for public hearing and tentatively scheduled that hearing for Jan. 13. The board also asked the commissioner of revenue and county staff to prepare criteria and wording for review.