Florida Statutes, Title XIV, Chapter 193,
Agricultural lands; classification
and assessment; mandated eradication or quarantine program.
193.461 Agricultural lands; classification
and assessment; mandated eradication or quarantine program.
(1) The property appraiser shall, on an annual basis,
classify for assessment purposes all lands within the county as
either agricultural or nonagricultural.
(2) Any landowner whose land is denied agricultural
classification by the property appraiser may appeal to the value
adjustment board. The property appraiser shall notify the landowner
in writing of the denial of agricultural classification on or before
July 1 of the year for which the application was filed. The
notification shall advise the landowner of his or her right to
appeal to the value adjustment board and of the filing deadline. The
board may also review all lands classified by the property appraiser
upon its own motion. The property appraiser shall have available at
his or her office a list by ownership of all applications received
showing the acreage, the full valuation under s. 193.011,
the valuation of the land under the provisions of this section, and
whether or not the classification requested was granted.
(3)(a) No lands shall be classified as agricultural lands
unless a return is filed on or before March 1 of each year. The
property appraiser, before so classifying such lands, may require
the taxpayer or the taxpayer's representative to furnish the
property appraiser such information as may reasonably be required to
establish that such lands were actually used for a bona fide
agricultural purpose. Failure to make timely application by March 1
shall constitute a waiver for 1 year of the privilege herein granted
for agricultural assessment. However, an applicant who is qualified
to receive an agricultural classification who fails to file an
application by March 1 may file an application for the
classification and may file, pursuant to s. 194.011(3),
a petition with the value adjustment board requesting that the
classification be granted. The petition may be filed at any time
during the taxable year on or before the 25th day following the
mailing of the notice by the property appraiser as provided in s. 194.011(1).
Notwithstanding the provisions of s. 194.013,
the applicant must pay a nonrefundable fee of $15 upon filing the
petition. Upon reviewing the petition, if the person is qualified to
receive the classification and demonstrates particular extenuating
circumstances judged by the property appraiser or the value
adjustment board to warrant granting the classification, the
property appraiser or the value adjustment board may grant the
classification. The owner of land that was classified agricultural
in the previous year and whose ownership or use has not changed may
reapply on a short form as provided by the department. The lessee of
property may make original application or reapply using the short
form if the lease, or an affidavit executed by the owner, provides
that the lessee is empowered to make application for the
agricultural classification on behalf of the owner and a copy of the
lease or affidavit accompanies the application. A county may, at the
request of the property appraiser and by a majority vote of its
governing body, waive the requirement that an annual application or
statement be made for classification of property within the county
after an initial application is made and the classification granted.
(b) Subject to the restrictions set out in this section,
only lands which are used primarily for bona fide agricultural
purposes shall be classified agricultural. "Bona fide
agricultural purposes" means good faith commercial agricultural
use of the land. In determining whether the use of the land for
agricultural purposes is bona fide, the following factors may be
taken into consideration:
1. The length of time the land has been so utilized;
2. Whether the use has been continuous;
3. The purchase price paid;
4. Size, as it relates to specific agricultural use;
5. Whether an indicated effort has been made to care
sufficiently and adequately for the land in accordance with accepted
commercial agricultural practices, including, without limitation,
fertilizing, liming, tilling, mowing, reforesting, and other
accepted agricultural practices;
6. Whether such land is under lease and, if so, the
effective length, terms, and conditions of the lease; and
7. Such other factors as may from time to time become
applicable.
(c) The maintenance of a dwelling on part of the lands used
for agricultural purposes shall not in itself preclude an
agricultural classification.
(d) When property receiving an agricultural classification
contains a residence under the same ownership, the portion of the
property consisting of the residence and curtilage must be assessed
separately, pursuant to s. 193.011,
to qualify for the assessment limitation set forth in s. 193.155.
The remaining property may be classified under the provisions of
paragraphs (a) and (b).
(4)(a) The property appraiser shall reclassify the
following lands as nonagricultural:
1. Land diverted from an agricultural to a nonagricultural use.
2. Land no longer being utilized for agricultural purposes.
3. Land that has been zoned to a nonagricultural use at the
request of the owner subsequent to the enactment of this law.
(b) The board of county commissioners may also reclassify
lands classified as agricultural to nonagricultural when there is
contiguous urban or metropolitan development and the board of county
commissioners finds that the continued use of such lands for
agricultural purposes will act as a deterrent to the timely and
orderly expansion of the community.
(c) Sale of land for a purchase price which is three or
more times the agricultural assessment placed on the land shall
create a presumption that such land is not used primarily for bona
fide agricultural purposes. Upon a showing of special circumstances
by the landowner demonstrating that the land is to be continued in
bona fide agriculture, this presumption may be rebutted.
(5) For the purpose of this section, "agricultural
purposes" includes, but is not limited to, horticulture;
floriculture; viticulture; forestry; dairy; livestock; poultry; bee;
pisciculture, when the land is used principally for the production
of tropical fish; aquaculture; sod farming; and all forms of farm
products and farm production.
(6)(a) In years in which proper application for
agricultural assessment has been made and granted pursuant to this
section, the assessment of land shall be based solely on its
agricultural use. The property appraiser shall consider the
following use factors only:
1. The quantity and size of the property;
2. The condition of the property;
3. The present market value of the property as agricultural land;
4. The income produced by the property;
5. The productivity of land in its present use;
6. The economic merchantability of the agricultural product; and
7. Such other agricultural factors as may from time to time
become applicable, which are reflective of the standard present
practices of agricultural use and production.
(b) Notwithstanding any provision relating to annual
assessment found in s. 192.042,
the property appraiser shall rely on 5-year moving average data when
utilizing the income methodology approach in an assessment of
property used for agricultural purposes.
(c)1. For purposes of the income methodology approach to
assessment of property used for agricultural purposes, irrigation
systems, including pumps and motors, physically attached to the land
shall be considered a part of the average yields per acre and shall
have no separately assessable contributory value.
2. Litter containment structures located on producing
poultry farms and animal waste nutrient containment structures
located on producing dairy farms shall be assessed by the
methodology described in subparagraph 1.
(d) In years in which proper application for agricultural
assessment has not been made, the land shall be assessed under the
provisions of s. 193.011.
(7) Lands classified for assessment purposes as
agricultural lands which are taken out of production by any state or
federal eradication or quarantine program shall continue to be
classified as agricultural lands for the duration of such program.
Lands under these programs which are converted to fallow, or
otherwise nonincome-producing uses shall continue to be classified
as agricultural lands and shall be assessed at a de minimis value of
no more than $50 per acre, on a single year assessment methodology;
however, lands converted to other income-producing agricultural uses
permissible under such programs shall be assessed pursuant to this
section. Land under a mandated eradication or quarantine program
which is diverted from an agricultural to a nonagricultural use
shall be assessed under the provisions of s. 193.011.
History.--s. 1, ch. 59-226; s. 1, ch. 67-117; ss. 1, 2, ch. 69-55; s. 1, ch.
72-181; s. 4, ch. 74-234; s. 3, ch. 76-133; s. 15, ch. 82-208; ss.
10, 80, ch. 82-226; s. 1, ch. 85-77; s. 3, ch. 86-300; s. 23, ch.
90-217; ss. 132, 142, ch. 91-112; s. 63, ch. 94-353; s. 1468, ch.
95-147; s. 1, ch. 95-404; s. 1, ch. 98-313; s. 1, ch. 99-351; s. 3,
ch. 2000-308; s. 4, ch. 2001-279.
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