— There is a tax shift coming in
as the value of residential property continues to grow, while farmland values do not.
County Assessor Doug Burns, director of property records and taxpayer services, told the Renville County Board of Commissioners at the Nov. 4 meeting that he expects a tax shift as residential property continues to rise in value and, consequently, its share of the overall tax burden grows in relation to agricultural property.
Yet when put in perspective, the tax shift may be more a matter of residential property owners feeling the pain than farmland owners noticing any relief. Agricultural property pays the lion’s share of property taxes in the county in any case.
“In Renville County that ag (value) is so big,” Bruns told the commissioners. “(The) property tax shifting as a whole is really hard to shift away from ag because it is such a great amount. You can’t change anything in any extreme amounts to really impact that amount of tax that they pay because it is such a great number.”
Agricultural property represents 86% of the overall value in the county, for a total market value in 2026 of $6,361,096,300, according to his presentation to the commissioners.
Residential property represents 11% of the value in the county, for a market value of $840,336,700 in 2026. Commercial property represents 2% or $162,420,100, and other property, such as pipelines and electric transmission lines, represents 1%, for a market value of $33,859,500.
Agricultural land values had been rising: Farmland values jumped by 36.31% in 2024. Last year, the taxable value decreased by 4.6%, according to the presentation.
Residential values have followed the statewide trend and continue to show year-by-year increases in value, according to the assessor.
Overall, agriculture pays 58% of the net property taxes in the county, for a total of $22,644,456. Residential pays 24% of the net property taxes, for a total of $9,397,232.
Along with market value, a variety of factors determine the actual taxes paid. In the case of residential property, Bruns pointed out that, as home values rise over $95,000, less of a property’s value is eligible for the homestead exclusion. The result is more taxable value per property, he said.
The homestead exemption was raised for agricultural property by the Legislature from $3.5 million to $3.8 million. That has had the effect of shifting some of the burden to non-homestead property, he explained.
Where are values headed? The assessor’s office will be completing its annual sales ratio study on Jan. 2, 2026, for taxes payable in 2027. The study will be based on sales from the period Oct. 1, 2024, through Sept. 20, 2025.