Wisconsin Property Taxes and Farms

[PhilJohnson]

On my quest to lower my property taxes as much as possible I have noticed that my little 4.37 acre parcel with a couple of run down buildings on it has a taxable value of 4000 dollars. There is only one building standing on this parcel, a three sided leantoo built from telephone poles and used sheet metal. Meanwhile the fella up the road has a 38 acre farm field that has a taxable value of 7200 bucks. Both my parcel and his are actively farmed and they are both zoned agricultural. Could anyone explain to me why my parcel has a taxable value of 918 dollars per acre and his has a taxable value of 189 dollars per acre?

[where I want to]

Ask your assessor or tax dept. These things are no secrets- they should tell you what makes different assessed values. Just be pleasant when you call.
Could be a million things from your land being all buildable to zoning issues to some sort of homesteading provision- could be almost anything including a mistake.

[rambler]

It could be anything.

Perhaps your land is zoned residential (used for mcmanshions) and the neighbor's is zoned agricultural.

The farmland as zoned has less developmental options, and is worth less per acre.

The small plot is only good for plopping a house on & being worth a whole lot. Some states allow farmed land to get the cheaper assessment, but can be a lot of hoops to jump through.

Just a guess?

Talk to the county tax office.

--->Paul

around here they like to go by road frontage. An acre with 200 ft road frontage is likely to be appraised higher than 3 or 4 acres with no road frontage.

[MN Gardener]

There are a million things that it could be. Give the assessor's office a call and they will explain it to you. And please be nice, they are people too!

[Hoop]

It is hard to believe such cheap tax valuations exist in Wisconsin. In Oneida county, they now assess at 100% evaluation. In Forest County, assessments often EXCEDE market value.

Your 4 acre parcel that is assessed at $4000 is likely assessed in this manner because it may be used as a residential building lot.
The bigger acreage parcel is undoubtedly agricultural land. Wisconsin taxes ag land at a far lower rate than lots with the potential to become residential building lots.

It still is hard to believe that any Agricultural land in WI has a meager tax valuation of only $7200 for 38 acres. We all know that this is WELL BELOW fair market value.

[PhilJohnson]

Originally Posted by Hoop

It is hard to believe such cheap tax valuations exist in Wisconsin. In Oneida county, they now assess at 100% evaluation. In Forest County, assessments often EXCEDE market value.

In my township the average property tax levy is 16 dollars per 1000 dollars of value. I think that seems a little on the high side.

[rancher1913]

the smaller the parcel the more valuable it is because it sells for more per acre. also its probably already to build on with utilitys close. talk to the acessor, it can't hurt.

[salmonslayer]

In my township the average property tax levy is 16 dollars per 1000 dollars of value

Jeese Phil thats even higher than my Alaska property!

[Welshmom]

I agree that you need to call the office and ask. Just an FYI to add on, there are different classifications of ag land, according to what is is being used for. For instance, good crop ground is, I believe, taxed at a higher rate than pasture. Might your land also have been purchased more recently than the larger parcel? That will always bring up the taxes.

[rambler]

Originally Posted by PhilJohnson

In my township the average property tax levy is 16 dollars per 1000 dollars of value. I think that seems a little on the high side.

Your 4 acres must be worth about $30,000 or so tho, not $4000? So it's all kind of an artificual setup, they keep the valuation terrible low, and then jack up the tax rate to increadable high, and it comes out the same as any other state.

Here in MN they value the land about what it was worth 12 months ago, and base the tax rate off the total valuation, not some cheap valuation rate like you have.

So, our tax rate might seem low, but I have a 40 acre field they value at $140,000 and base taxes off the $140,000. About 7-10 acres of that 40 acres is a wetland that I can't do anything with but cut hay if it dries down enough. No building, no tiling, no draining. I'd _love_ to have your valuation rates!

We get homestead credits in some odd magical formula, if qualify then about 40% reduction in taxes if we live on the property up to some level.

--->Paul

[rambler]

Heck, I have a 4.25 acre woodlot with a rr right of way cutting it up, a stream through it, the rest is pretty much a cliff, no access at all, got wintertime cartway access over frozen ground to get firewood is all.

That property is valued at $10,000 and $30 tax for what is deemed unaccessable waste land.

--->Paul

[PhilJohnson]

Originally Posted by rambler

Your 4 acres must be worth about $30,000 or so tho, not $4000? So it's all kind of an artificual setup, they keep the valuation terrible low, and then jack up the tax rate to increadable high, and it comes out the same as any other state.

--->Paul

I paid 30,000 for the whole place which has a well, septic, and a house which is on a separate parcel that is right next to the 4 acre one.

[agmantoo]

the farmer has a 38 acre field.
you have land with buildings and part of you holdings are considered a building parcel.
the building parcel is not in the deferral for farm use and is taxed based on its potential use

[Hoop]

I don't know if you know this, but property taxes in WI are somewhat unfair.

My house/land in Oneida County has a fair market value of approx $175,000. The valuation is (I think) close to the actual market value. So property taxes are roughly 1% of the FAIR MARKET VALUE.
But not always.

The well heeled don't pay anywhere close to 1% in this township. Bob Felland has a very nice house/land. Its for sale for $10,000,000. His house/land is assessed at only $2,000,000 and his property taxes are $18,000.

Another well off guy in town has a very nice new house. Its not for sale, but certainly would have to be worth over $8,000,000. His home is assessed at $1.8 Million and his taxes are $16,000.

I have a 2nd house in Forest County. Its assessed at $191,000. Its been for sale for 2 years for $130,000 (without so much as a lowball insulting offer). Property taxes are $2400.

Tax assessments may be totally irrelevant. Sometimes they're too high. Other times they're too low. The only thing that matters is the tax bill.

[PhilJohnson]

Originally Posted by Hoop

I don't know if you know this, but property taxes in WI are somewhat unfair.

Oh I know

Originally Posted by Hoop

The well heeled don't pay anywhere close to 1% in this township. Bob Felland has a very nice house/land. Its for sale for $10,000,000. His house/land is assessed at only $2,000,000 and his property taxes are $18,000.

Another well off guy in town has a very nice new house. Its not for sale, but certainly would have to be worth over $8,000,000. His home is assessed at $1.8 Million and his taxes are $16,000.

My one neighbor owns about 350 acres of land with a machine shed and shop (no house). Total taxable value on that thing is $240200. His property taxes were close to $13,000. Sounds like those folks in your township are getting a screaming deal compared to this guy.

[Wisconsin Ann]

A while back I posted a sort of similar question....our taxes more than tripled this year. Following the advice I received here, I eventually found out that our farm had been put in as "recreational" for tax purposes. The land on 2 sides of us (west and south) is recreational, north and east are ag of some sort. so...we went from the lowest tax rate for Ag, to the VERY high recreational. all because the assessor didn't see the BIG garden, and the REALLY BIG polebuilding and the hayfield...and the turkeys and chickens.

Give your assessor a call.

[sammyd]

You must make sure it's not recreational. BILs dad had his whole 120 acres switched to rec after he quit farming and let his land go back to wilderness....
Quite a shocker to the old guy.

[GREENCOUNTYPETE]

Originally Posted by PhilJohnson

In my township the average property tax levy is 16 dollars per 1000 dollars of value. I think that seems a little on the high side.

Phill down here it is more than that in sothern wi and they are raising it every year my previos house was assessed at 73,000 it started with 1900 in taxes i was at 2400 after owning it 4 years and i moved this house stated assesed at 93,000 and had 2000 in taxes and is now at 2440 4 years later and they want more

you could say yes but there are more jobs down there , but Green county compares better with nothern counties than most would know , and laffiette and grant are right there also

part of it may be that you have less than 20 acers so you are not a "REAL"
farm we have freinds with 17 acers who ran into that problem.

school taxes alone can go up 2.5% in wis every year and do they actualy claim they need 4.5 to 5% every year as that is what they say they need to keep up with inflation that is why almost every school district has had a refurendum to raise taxes above the 2.5 % annualy


but the state while still not balancing a budget has been trying but they keep doing it by with holding more and more of the state income tax from the municiplaities , so property tax payers get to make up for it.
the school funding model we currently work on was a short term fix till they could come up with somthing better back in 1993 they thought they could have an aswer in 3-5 years 17 later it is still broke , and at least we still have the 2nd best rated schools in the USA , now if we could loose madison and milwakee we could be #1

"there is nothing more perminant than a temporary fix" - not sure who said it but they were wise.

hey but this being said we are still doing better than many of the other states that sit on the verge of bankrupsy , think california ,i here michigan was might close also.