Irrigated land values same as last year

    Assessed valuation on irrigated cropland in Chase County for tax purposes will remain the same for 2021 as it was in 2020, according to County Assessor Dotty Bartels.
    Depending on the quality of the land, irrigated values will range from $3,650 per acre in the top two land classes to $3,445 for the bottom four classes.
    Bartels said there was an increase in the top two classes of dryland, based on sales history from 2018 through Sept. 30, 2020.
    The top two classes of dryland increased from $1,050 per acre to $1,200, or 14.2%. The next two classes of dryland moved from $1,000 per acre to $1,050, or 5%.
    She said all classes of grassland in the county will remain valued at $560 per acre.
    Bartels said the price for irrigated land appears to be trending up, based on prices being paid for ground sold recently. Sales data from Oct. 1, 2020 to Sept. 30, 2021 will be incorporated into next year’s valuations.
    Agland in Chase County is valued at 71% of market value. State statute requires it to be valued between 69-75% of market value.
    Residential properties are valued at 94% of actual, with the 92-100% range mandated by the state.
    Commercial property is also valued at the state mandated value.
CREP land value increases
     Bartels said the assessed valuation on irrigated land enrolled in the Conservation Reserve Enhancement Pro-gram will increase this year.
    The CREP valuations for 2021 will match the value of the top irrigated land class.
    The 2020 CREP value was $2,655 an acre, $790 to $995 below the assessed value of irrigated agland, depending on land class.
    In 2017, Nebraska’s Tax Equalization and Review Commission lowered the assessed value of CREP land after a review of protests filed in 2015.
    As the assessed valuation of  irrigated land dropped, the assessed valuation of CREP land dropped accordingly.  
    In CREP, which is admini-stered by the USDA, farmers agree to idle irrigated land for a period of 15 years in exchange for annual per-acre payments from the government.
    Most of the CREP acres in Chase County were enrolled when the program began in 2005.
    Those contracts have now expired. Landowners had the option of re-enrolling the land for another 15 years or returning it to production.
    With new CREP contracts in place, Bartels explained there is no new sales data available to value CREP land  any differently than irrigated cropland.
    In addition, she said the water allocation remains with the property during the contract period.
    When commodity prices exploded early in the last decade, some the land enrolled in CREP was pulled out of the program and brought back into irrigated production.
    In those situations, previous payments had to be repaid to the USDA, along with a penalty for early termination.
    According to the Upper Republican Natural Resources District, there were 10,589 acres enrolled in CREP in Chase County. Of that total, 2,627 acres were enrolled later and still remain under contract.
    Nate Jenkins, assistant NRD manager, said 5,746 acres have been re-enrolled in the new 15-year program, along with 970 new acres to total 9,343 acres now in CREP.