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House Research Department Updated: September 2008 <br />Special Assessments Page 8 <br /> <br /> <br />Special Assessment Deferments <br />There are three types of special assessment deferrals. <br /> <br />• Senior citizens, disabled persons, members of the National Guard or military <br />reserves. A local government may defer the special assessments on the homesteads of a <br />senior citizen (a person at least 65 years of age), a person that is totally and permanently <br />disabled, or a member of the National Guard or military reserves ordered into active <br />service. 23 This is often referred to as a “hardship deferral.” The assessment is still <br />imposed, but it is not due and payable until a later point in time—for senior citizens and <br />disabled persons, this is usually when the homeowner dies, the property is sold, or the <br />property loses its homestead status.24 The National Guard or military reserve hardship <br />deferral is for the term of the person’s military orders, typically one year or more. The <br />local government may adopt a resolution or ordinance that sets the criteria for the <br />hardship deferral. The criteria may include the income and assets of the property owner, <br />and the interest rate and terms of the deferral. <br />• Green Acres. The owner of property enrolled in the Minnesota Agricultural Property <br />Tax Program,25 the Green Acres program, may apply to the county to defer the special <br />assessments levied against the property. The assessment payments are deferred until the <br />property is developed or when the property no longer qualifies for Green Acres. Property <br />enrolled in Green Acres must be used for agricultural purposes and as such, does not <br />directly benefit from many of these assessments until the property is developed and <br />converted to some other use, such as residential, commercial, or industrial.26 <br />When a property no longer qualifies for Green Acres and special assessment bonds are <br />outstanding, the taxpayer must pay off the assessments and interest in equal installments <br />spread over the remaining term of the outstanding bonds. If no bonds were issued, or if <br />the bonds have already been paid off, then the entire amount of the assessment is due and <br />payable within 90 days of losing the property’s status in the program. <br />Watershed district assessments are not deferred under Green Acres for property initially <br />qualifying under the program for taxes payable in 2009, and for all property in the <br />program for watershed district assessments for new projects after May 31, 2008. <br />Property enrolled in the program for taxes payable in 2008 shall continue to have the <br />special assessments deferred that were initially imposed prior to May 31, 2008.27 <br /> <br />23 Minn. Stat. § 435.193; see also Minn. Stat. § 290B.05, subd. 3. <br />24 Minn. Stat. § 435.195. <br />25 Minn. Stat. § 273.111, subd. 11. <br />26 Local governments cannot impose most types of special assessments against property enrolled in the <br />Metropolitan Agricultural Preserves under Minnesota Statutes, chapter 473H. Minnesota Statutes, section 473H.11, <br />specifies which assessments are prohibited. <br />27 Minn. Stat. § 273.111, subd. 14, effective for assessments payable in 2009 and thereafter.