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Adair County officials press state, consultants on how to tax solar projects
Summary
County commissioners met with state and private advisers in July to discuss gaps in property assessment for solar projects and the growing use of Chapter 100 bonds and PILOTs to secure payments while assessment rules remain unsettled.
Adair County commissioners said this month they are planning to press for clearer rules on how solar energy projects should be taxed after learning local governments are using bond and PILOT arrangements while state assessment guidance remains unsettled.
At a July 7 meeting, the commission met with State Sen. Cindy O'Laughlin to discuss use- and sales-tax exemptions and property-tax assessment approaches for solar projects, and to consider pursuing action in the next legislative session. The topic returned to the commission on July 9 in a regional Zoom hosted by K-Redi, where attorney Mark Grim of Gilmore Bell told commissioners that, in many counties, developers are not paying traditional property taxes because assessors lack a settled valuation approach. Grim said counties are increasingly relying on Chapter 100 bond deals and negotiated payment-in-lieu-of-tax (PILOT) arrangements so projects contribute revenue to affected counties.
Grim also addressed questions from county officials about decommissioning surety bonds, a financial assurance tool counties may require to guarantee site cleanup at the end of a project's life. County officials raised concerns about road damage from construction and operations; those roadway impacts were discussed later in a field meeting with AES and MODOT staff.
Commissioners said they will continue to pursue clarity from the state and to coordinate locally on road repair expectations and any fiscal arrangements intended to replace traditional property taxes during the transition to a uniform assessment approach.
The matter is procedural and ongoing: commissioners took no formal local policy action on taxation at these meetings but documented the concerns and next steps with state and legal advisers.
