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February
8, 2008 |
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Legislative
Audit Commission issues reports on Green Acres and
JOBZ Green Acres
and Agricultural Land Preservation Programs Major
findings On
Friday, the Legislative Audit Commission issued its evaluation of the
agricultural protection programs offered by the state. Their report
included the following findings: ·
The
Green Acres Program effectively equalizes taxes for many agricultural
landowners but does not help all who could be eligible. This
program’s effect on preserving farmland it short term and
tenuous. ·
It
is unclear whether the Green Acres program’s goals include benefiting some
owners and types of land, such as untillable land used mostly for
hunting ·
Certain
Green Acres program eligibility criteria, including the income threshold
and definition of land that is “primarily” agricultural, are outdated,
difficult to implement fairly, or create inequities. ·
Not
all counties that could have implemented the Green Acres program have done
so and administration of the program is inconsistent.
·
The
Metropolitan Agricultural Preserves Program and the Agricultural Land
Preservation program in Greater Minnesota can help control the shape and
pace of development, but are not adequate to preserve farmland for the
long term. ·
In
a few cases, counties have spent money raised through the farmland
preservation programs on natural resource conservation projects that many
not meet a strict interpretation of the state statues, but additional
oversight is necessary only if the Legislature Wants
to further restrict the spending. Recommendations ·
The
Legislature should clarify who and what types of properties should benefit
from the Green Acres program ·
The
Legislature should replace the minimum income criterion in the Green Acres
program with more specific language to help define land that is
“primarily” agricultural. ·
The
Department of Revenue should continue efforts to make the Green Acres
program more consistent statewide but also make some changes, such as to
its method for valuing nontillable land in the
program. ·
If
Minnesota wishes to preserve lands for agricultural uses over the long
term, the Legislature should consider supplementing existing programs with
other strategies. It should also improve current programs by
specifying who has authority to enforce them. ·
The
Legislature should determine whether spending program revenues on natural
resource projects other than agricultural land preservation and soil
conservation is unacceptable, and if so, it should specify in law the
unallowable activities. JOBZ Major
findings ·
The
JOBZ program has some value as an economic development tool. It has
helped attract some out-of-state businesses to Greater Minnesota and kept
some Minnesota businesses from leaving the state. ·
However,
the program has not been focused on those goals and has been used to
provide tax breaks to some businesses that would have expanded in Greater
Minnesota without JOBZ. ·
In
addition, the program has subsidized some businesses that compete with
existing Minnesota businesses for the same Minnesota
customers. ·
The
program is unfocused because it lacks a budget constraint and meaningful
policies for local governments to follow in deciding which businesses may
participate in the program. ·
The
JOBZ program also has not been targeted to those parts of Greater
Minnesota that are economically distresses and most in need of
assistance. ·
There
are significant problems with program administration, particularly
business subsidy agreements, which too frequently lack adequate job and
wage requirements. ·
The
process used by the Department of Employment and Economic Development
(DEED) to check business compliance with job and wage requirements is slow
and may not identify some businesses that are not meeting their JOBZ
obligations. ·
Some
businesses removed from the JOBZ program have not had to repay any
property tax breaks and have continued to receive those subsidies for a
time following their removal from the program. Recommendations ·
The
Legislature should require DEED to review and approve all business subside
agreements before they can become effective. DEED should also be
required to implement meaningful criteria for determining whether a
business should receive JOB assistance. ·
The
Legislature should either limit the number of businesses allowed to enter
the JOBZ program each year or limit the estimated cost of future subsidies
for new entrants each year. ·
DEED
should revamp the reporting forms used to monitor compliance and measure
the overall effectiveness of the program. ·
DEED
should streamline its compliance process to more rapidly identify and
remove from the program businesses that do not meet their
obligations. For
more information, please contact Carol Lovro, AMC Transportation, Ag,
& Ec Development Policy Analyst. Or you may access the Office of the Legislative
Auditor web site for a full copy of the
report. *ADMINISTRATORS
/AUDITORS: Please share a hard copy of all AMC UPDATE emails with
any county board members who do not have email. **If
you do not wish to receive these emails in the future, please reply to
this message with the word ‘REMOVE’ in the subject line. |
|
Association
of Minnesota Counties 125
Charles Avenue Saint
Paul, MN 55103-2108 Phone:
651.224.3344, Fax: 651.224.6540 |
