Wind assessment ordinance narrowly passes

WASHINGTON — A county ordinance governing tax assessments on properties with wind turbines passed by the skin of its teeth at a Washington County Board of Supervisors meeting on Tuesday.

While approval for the ordinance’s second reading was a quick and unanimous vote, the motion to waive an otherwise required third reading for the code change proved contentious, passing on a much slimmer 3-2 tally.

Supervisors Stan Stoops and Bob Yoder said they wanted to see the item up for discussion one more time before letting it take effect. Stoops cited a previous example of the formality used by the county.

“I remember with zoning, we went through the third reading just to make sure our t’s were crossed and i’s were dotted,” he said. “We can do the third reading without it being an issue.”

Others disagreed. Board Member Richard Young said another meeting was unlikely to change the outcome of any future vote on the matter.

“We’re not going to change our mind, as far as I know,” he said.

The vote’s outcome would have been enough to stop the local law’s passage if it were a municipal ordinance. While city councils need approval from three quarters of their members to waive an ordinance change’s third reading, counties need only a simple majority of supervisors to vote yes, under state law.

The newly enacted ordinance requires that wind-powered generators be assessed in Washington County at a rate depending on their age: 0% of the net acquisition cost for their first year, and compounding 5% of the acquisition cost every year thereafter, until year seven, when assessments would cap at 30%. It follows the only formula for such rules the state of Iowa allows counties to take, unless they opt to tax the facilities as utility services, a move widely understood to send revenue to the state rather than local governments.

While some public comments have warned that the ordinance would amount to “sending out the welcome mat for commercial wind turbines,” Young said he wasn’t willing to gamble on sending tax dollars to the state instead of the county.

“I don’t think we can trust the state, if we don’t pass this, to refund that money,” he said.

The newly enacted county law does not govern rules for the operation of wind turbines, only their taxation. Supervisors have previously discussed rules for the generators’ placement, coloration, signage and other requirements, but have not formally considered such an ordinance since 2021, when a scheduled vote was indefinitely tabled because a wind energy developer backed out of the county.

Comments: Kalen.McCain@southeastiowaunion.com