REIS AND JONES URGE THE PASSAGE OF IMPORTANT WOODLAND TAX ASSESSMENTS CHANGES

June 28, 2007

Springfield….State Representative David Reis (R- Ste. Marie) and State Senator John O. Jones (R-Mt. Vernon) joined with other legislators Thursday to urge the passage of Senate Bill 17, which establishes the Conservation Stewardship Law which will provide permanent property tax relief to landowners that have unimproved land.

"I received at least 600 calls from constituents about how this higher assessment was going to affect them. My constituents were upset and many said they would have to sell their property. With that in mind, I was proud to work in a bi-partisan manner with members from both chambers of the General Assembly," Jones said.   "We were pleased that input was provided from both the public and private sector so a consensus could be reached that would provide the much needed property tax relief to landowners, while at the same time working to maintain our state's natural history."

"With the exception of the electric rate increases, no other issue has generated more correspondence into my office. Because this situation affected the taxpayers so gravely, we set out in the House last year to establish the Woodlands Task Force," Reis said.

Jones and Reis worked this spring to advance preventive legislation that will protect landowners from a possible tax nightmare. The problem was caused in 2004, when the Illinois Department of Revenue changed the rules for classifying certain types of land for assessment purposes. After the rules change, some property owners saw land that had been previously taxed at $2 per acre climbed as high as $50 to $70 per acre, even though the land was not being used for agricultural, commercial, and residential purposes. The new legislation will not affect lands that are already maintained in a forestry management program.

Once SB 17 becomes law, landowners must place land in an approved conservation stewardship plan to be administered by the Department of Natural Resources. Lands will then be assessed at five percent of their market value. Land owners must possess at least five acres of woodlands, prairie, wetlands and other vacant or undeveloped land to qualify for the new program.

Eligible land includes woodlands, prairie, wetlands or other vacant or undeveloped land that is not used for any residential or commercial purposes. Sale or transfer of lands will not be affected under the plan unless the property fails to meet the conservation plans or falls below the five acre requirement. Landowners will be required to enroll their land for a minimum of 10 years.

"The task force created positive recommendations that will protect landowners from the potentially high tax bills that they would have received," Reis concluded.

"A lot of people are going to benefit from this, in fact all of the citizens of Illinois will benefit from this. Some of the lands in question do not need to be in production, if some of this land is in production then it will end up in our rivers, if we start farming it. We also need to save as much timber as we can because we know how valuable trees are to our environment," Jones concluded

Other groups backing the bill include the Illinois Audubon Society, Illinois Environmental Council; Illinois Federation for Outdoor Resources; Sierra Club Illinois Chapter, Illinois State Rifle Association, and The Nature Conservancy.

SB 17 still needs the approval of the House of Representatives and Governor. The legislation could move out of the Illinois House by the end of the week.