Wood County Auditor Matthew Oestreich has reported the 2020 Current Agricultural Use Value renewal forms have been mailed to property owners currently enrolled in the program. Eligible property owners, who are not currently enrolled, may also apply for the program now.
In accordance with Ohio law, CAUV applications are to be filed with the county auditor’s office by the first Monday in March, this year by March 2. Eligible property owners must reapply each year with no renewal fee. There is a $25 initial filing fee for all new applications.
If renewal forms are not returned by March 2, the county auditor will be required by law to value the property at its market value and recoup the tax savings for the past three years.
Current Agricultural Use Value authorizes the county auditor to assess farmland at its crop production value rather than its market value. It protects and preserves farming operations by gearing the tax base to the production of the land rather than its potential for development.
Ohio voters approved a constitutional amendment which created the program and since 1974 most of the state’s agricultural land has been taxed at this value instead of market value.
CAUV soil values are set by the Ohio Department of Taxation and are adjusted every three years for each county. The current values were issued for all parcels in the CAUV program in Wood County for the 2017 tax year.
New values will be issued for the 2020 tax year which will be payable in 2021.
With the passage of the 2017 Budget Bill, the Ohio Legislature made a significant change to how land used exclusively for “conservation practices” is valued under the CAUV program. Land enrolled in the CAUV program that is used for “conservation practices” will be valued at the lowest value in the soil value table, which is $230 per acre, rather than the value for the individual soil type.
For example, for Hoytville Clay soil, the tillable soil value is $3,110 per acre. If it is used exclusively for “conservation practices” the value for that land would instead be $230 per acre.
“Wood County has 9,654 individual real estate parcels on Ag Use,” Oestreich said. “A total of 317,634 acres in this program brought a tax savings to agricultural landowners last year of over $14,200,000.”
Anyone not currently enrolled in the CAUV program who believes they may be eligible, may contact the Wood County Auditor’s Office at 419-354-9174 for more information.
