This program is intended for lands that produce commercial
agricultural products.
The Assessor's Office is the granting authority with
regard to administering open space agricultural lands under
RCW
84.34. This allows the valuing of farm and agricultural land on the basis of
value derived from 'the earnings or productive capacity of comparable lands from
crops grown most typically in the area averaged over not less than 5 years, then
capitalized at indicative rates'.
The Okanogan County Assessor's Office
will not sign a notice of continuance on any transfer of property that is
currently in the program until the Assessor's Office staff has had the
opportunity to determine the property's qualifications for continuing such
classification. Grantee will be required to supply any and all pertinent data
requested by the Assessor's Office to continue eligibility.
Owners
of land that may qualify for this classification have until December 31st of
each year to apply. The application fee is $200. If the application is approved,
an additional $63 is required, in a separate check, for the recording fee. If
the application were approved, the land would be re-classified the following
year, which would affect the property taxes the year after that. An example
would be if the application was filed and approved in 2010, the assessment would
be affected for 2011, taxes payable 2012.
Tax Liability: If for any reason the use of the land
changes so that it no longer qualifies for the classification, the Assessor
shall impose an additional tax equal to the difference between the tax paid on
the current use value and the tax that would have been paid on that land had it
not been so classified, payable for the 7 years past (if the land had been in
that long), plus interest on the additional tax at the same rate as charged on
delinquent property taxes. A penalty of 20 percent of this amount is applied to
properties in the classification less than 10 years or whose owner has not filed
a notice of withdrawal 2 years prior to the change in use.
Farm and
Agricultural land is defined as either:
- Any parcel of land that is twenty or more acres or
multiple parcels of land that are contiguous and total twenty or more acres:
a. Devoted primarily
to the production of livestock or agricultural
commodities for commercial purposes,
b. Enrolled in a cropland retirement
program administered by the
United States Department of
Agriculture,
- Any parcel of land that is five acres or more but
less that twenty acres devoted primarily to agricultural uses equivalent to:
a. One hundred dollars
($100) or more per acre per year for three
of the five
calendar years preceding the date of application for
classification made prior to January 1, 1993 or
b. Applications made on
or after January 1, 1993, two hundred dollars
($200) or
more per acre per year for three of the five calendar years
preceding the date of application for classification:
- Any parcel of land of less that five acres devoted
primarily to agricultural uses which has produced a gross income of:
a. One thousand
dollars ($1,000) or more per year for three of the five
calendar years preceding the date of application made prior to
January 1, 1993, or
b. Application made on or after January 1, 1993,
fifteen hundred dollars
($1,500) or more per year for
three of the five calendar years preceding
the date of
application for classification.
- Farm and Agricultural land also includes:
a. Incidental uses
compatible with agricultural purposes provided such use
does not exceed twenty percent of the classified land:
b. Land on which
appurtenances necessary for production, preparation,
or
sale of agricultural products exist in conjunction with the land
producing such products;
c. Any contiguous parcel one to five acres, that
is an integral part of the farming
operations.
d.
Land on which housing for employees and principal place of residence of
the farm operation or owner is sited provided the use of the housing or
residence is integral to the use of the classified land for agricultural
purposes
and provided that the classified parcel is
twenty or more acres.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION REGARDING THIS PROGRAM, CONTACT OUR OFFICE.
Click here to email the Assessor
