Finance and Economic Development Committee and Committee of the Whole Meeting - April 15, 2026
Finance and Economic Development Committee and Committee of the Whole Meeting - April 15, 2026
The Finance and Economic Development Committee and the Committee of the Whole convened on April 15, 2026. The committees considered Bill 2987, which amends the real property tax code for agricultural dedications, and unanimously approved minutes from prior meetings.
Consent Calendar
- Approved the minutes of the April 1, 2026 Finance and Economic Development Committee meeting (unanimous).
- Approved the minutes of the April 1, 2026 Committee of the Whole meeting (unanimous).
Discussion Items
- Bill 2987 (Amending Chapter 5A, relating to real property tax for agricultural dedication): The bill allows property owners with agricultural dedication to separate commercial or industrial portions of their land (e.g., cell towers, processing facilities) from the agricultural tax rate, taxing only those portions at commercial or industrial rates. Councilmember Cowden questioned whether the bill conflicts with planning permit requirements; County Attorney Tyler Seidel confirmed it is legal and that the tax code and zoning code serve distinct purposes. Several councilmembers (Bulusan, Caldwell, Holland, Carvalho, and Chair Pozzo) expressed strong support, noting it rectifies a long-standing inequity and supports farmers by allowing value-added activities. Chair Pozzo addressed a proposal from grassroots to remove the word "dedicated" from the definition, but recommended retaining it to prevent abuse and ensure the benefit targets genuine farmers. The committee then conducted a roll-call vote.
Key Outcomes
- Bill 2987 passed the Finance and Economic Development Committee with a unanimous roll-call vote (Councilmembers Bulusan, Carvalho, Cowden, Holland, Pozzo, and Kunishiro in favor; Vice Chair Kouli excused).
- The Committee of the Whole adjourned after approving its minutes.
Meeting Transcript
Okay, I'd like to call the finance and economic development committee to order. Let the record reflect that all members are present. Clerk, can you please read the first item? Minutes of the April 1st, 2026 Finance and Economic Development Committee meeting. Second. Anyone in the audience wishing to testify? On the minutes, any questions or discussion for the members? If not, all those in favor signify by saying aye. Aye. Aye. Those opposed, motion carried. Next item. Bill number 2987, a bill for an ordinance amending chapter 5A, Coe County Code 1987 as amended relating to real property tax for the agricultural dedication. Move to approve. Any questions from the members? Council Member Cotton, I'll suspend the rule. Oh, Councilmember Codin. Um, my my first question is for you. Just wanting to clarify publicly, this uh bill that affects the agricultural use and how taxation goes, none of it up uproots the need to get a special use permit for a commercial piece on property. Yeah, it doesn't uh it doesn't affect anything on the planning side. So if you need a use permit on the planning side, you still need a use permit on the still need a use permit on the planning side. And then I'm not sure if the right question would be for the attorney, but just wanting to double check that when our uh finance places like if we do a transient vacation rental tax in an area that isn't transient rental, or if we use if we have a small piece of industrial around something like a cell tower, that's what this does, right? If somebody has a cell tower on their farm, they'd only pay commercial for the cell tower, correct? Correct? For a cell tower, yeah, for a commercial parcel, they'll pay commercial for the cell tower parcel and they'll pay the ag dedicated rate on the areas that they're doing active agtive agriculture and file their ag dedication. So how we would know whether it's going to be industrial or commercial or whatever it might be is based on the special use permit. We would know what that area is. I just want to make sure that well, the area uh would be identified by the farmer because when they turn in their ag dedication, they have to um reconcile their acres and they have to do a map. So on the map, they're gonna provide an area where the cell tower is, how big it is, and that place will be taken out of their ag dedication and it'll be assessed separately. And then there's I'm just kind of looking at our attorney, there's no conflict with that. Is that correct? Tyler, you might have to come back to the front place. I just want to clarify this is only applies to ag dedicated properties, not not P VRs. You cannot have a T VR on ag land. So this is specifically for ag parcels that have been dedicated and had the agricultural dedication, which is a process in and of itself which would have identified the parcel that was industrial or commercial. That would just exempt out that part. So they would only pay the commercial or industrial on the part that is being used for that purpose. So it's only for ag dedicated lands. This is not a general. I know I'm I'm just talking about ag dedicated. Well, you you talked about the T VR. And I don't want the public to think that okay, if you have a T VR property, it it no, this is specifically. Like sometimes ag properties get charged T VR rates. I mean, we we have one. I mean we have some. I don't know how that just I don't know how that would happen. Um, and that would be interesting. If there's a T VR uh T VR and ag land that was approved through the grandfathering, then it would probably be taxed at T VR rate. Correct. Yeah.
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