Milking the System
 

They’re part of the scenery as you drive to work, run errands or carpool kids: clusters of cows grazing on vacant land, bringing a bit of the country closer to homes and shopping centers, sometimes along major roadways or even Southwest Florida International Airport.

In some cases, the cows are rented by landowners looking to save dollars on their tax bill by creating an agricultural use for land that’s destined for shopping centers or neighborhoods.

“If somebody owns 300 acres and it is right alongside U.S. 41 between Naples and Fort Myers, the chances of them trying to be long-term in the ag business is pretty slim,” Lee County Commissioner Frank Mann says.

Every year, property appraisers have to decide whether the livestock, as well as citrus trees, nurseries, goats, strawberries or other occupants are legitimate under the state’s agricultural exemption, which was created in 1959 to reduce the tax burden on farmers as property values grew. Or is it just a loophole to reduce a tax bill?

“It’s an ongoing problem that’s been going on for years,” Lee County Property Appraiser Ken Wilkinson says. The plunge in the housing and commercial markets led more landowners to try the “see a cow, get an exemption” tactic, since they could no longer quickly flip property.

“There is a huge economic incentive for people that aren’t ag guys to do it because you can save a lot of money in taxes,” says Aaron Troyer, general operations manager of Troyer Brothers, a potato grower, who has served on a Lee County advisory board that provides insight into questionable cases. “There are some people that are taking advantage of the system,” he says.

Without the exemption, landowners could pay from two to 400 times more in property taxes, according to a study by The Associated Press.