Senate Bill 17- Tax Break and Improved Hunting in One

This year as I opened my property tax bill I was met with one heck of a surprise and it was not a good one.  I am a small property owner in Menard county Illinois.  My 17 acres consisting of timber, an old pasture field and an abandoned tree farm has been my little piece of paradise for the past 3 years.  As I looked at my tax bill and realized that the taxes on this 17 acres of paradise had gone from $19 to nearly $2,000 in one year my heart sank into my stomach similar to the feeling I had a couple of years ago when a buck of a lifetime ran off as my arrow narrowly missed a fatal shot.  Like many other landowners and outdoor enthusiasts who have recently been subject to a tax increase on wooded lands I began to wonder if I was going to be able to keep my little slice of heaven. 

Yes, there were some tax break option already available but I really didn’t want to manage my timber for production, put cattle on my property or farm it.  I am a hunter, conservationist and a wildlife biologist.  I wanted my land for hunting and recreation.  Luckily SB17 sponsored by Senator John Sullivan and Representative Dan Reitz was signed by the Governor October 2, 2007.  The Conservation Stewardship law was the answer to all of my problems. 

This new law gives landowners a property tax break for managing their property for conservation and the benefit of wildlife.  That’s right!  Conservation has finally been viewed important enough to receive a tax break.  The process is a simple one.  As long as you own 5 acres or more you can sign up for the program.  You will then need to have a conservation plan written for your property and then you will need to implement the plan.  In return, your land will be assessed at 5% of fair market value versus 33 1/3 % of fair market value.

I am so convinced this program is the answer to prevent high taxes for thousands of landowners that I recently resigned from my job after 8 years as the wildlife biologist and Director of Conservation Programs for Pheasants Forever and Quail Forever and formed Wildlife Management Solutions, LLC.  This new company will assist landowners in Conservation Stewardship plan writing and implementation of the plan.  The great thing about this new law is that it will give me and thousands of other landowners the reason to do all of that habitat improvement we have been meaning to do.  And by doing so we will not only see more wildlife but we will get a tax break for doing it.

So what’s the next step for you?  First, we all have to wait until the administrative rule is put in place.  This can take time as the Illinois Department of Natural Resources will have to write proposed rules for the new law.  Once written they will be submitted through the appropriate rule making process.  There will be a minimum forty five day public comment period.  After that additional changes may be required along with another round of public comment.

All indications thus far from the DNR is that they hope to have this process done within the next four to five months and hopefully sooner.  In the meantime, you can contact Wildlife Management Solutions at info@wildlifemanagementsolutions.com or call 217-632-9914.  We currently have started to put together a list of interested landowners and will contact each landowner on a first come first serve basis once the administrative rule is put in place.

Once a stewardship plan is written for your property it will be submitted to the DNR for approval.  When the plan is approved your information will be submitted to the Department of Revenue who will in turn pass the information on to the county assessor.  The assessor will then tax your land at 5% of fair market value versus the 33 1/3% it will be taxed if you don’t have a conservation stewardship plan in place.

At that point as long as you are in the process of implementing the plan you will continue to enjoy a lower tax rate.  After a 10 year period the plan will be reviewed and resubmitted to continue in the program.

So what needs to be in the plan?  Right now we don’t know for sure because the administrative rule is not complete.  However early comments from the DNR indicate there will be a vegetative analysis component as well as strategy to control exotic and invasive species such as autumn olive and honey locust to name a couple.  There also will likely be a component to convert old fields such as fescue into more desirable wildlife habitat such as native warm season grasses with wildflowers.  I suspect most of what will be required in the plans are all of the things many landowners have been wanting to do in order to increase wildlife population on their property.

Below is an excerpt released by the DNR explaining the law more thoroughly.  If you have additional questions or would like to get on Wildlife Management Solutions waiting list call us at 217-632-9914.  You an also click on Conservation Stewardship Plan writing to get more details about our service.