I’ve been pricing the cost of improvements to the land in Kentucky. As part of that, I needed to understand the tax implications of anything I might do, so I called the assessor’s office.
The clerk let me know that building any structure, even if it was just a little room with a toilet, would raise the taxes beyond what I was willing to pay.
And then this happened.
Clerk: Are there any structures currently on the property?
Me: Just a falling-down barn.
Clerk: How many acres?
Me: Twenty.
Clerk: Do you have a farm number?
Me: I do! I just got one so I can make improvements to the land to help the wildlife.
I told her my farm number.
Clerk: You’re currently coded residential. With a farm number…(clicking sounds)… your taxes would go from… (more clicking sounds)…are you sitting down?
Me: (dreading the reason I might need to be sitting) Yes.
Clerk: Your taxes will go from $853 dollars a year to $68 dollars.
Me: A… year?
Clerk: Yes. With a farm number, your taxes will be $68 dollars a year. Whatever you build would raise your taxes to $564 a year. They’d be less than what you’ve been paying.
I laughed, and she did, too.
Sometimes I hold off doing something because I’m afraid of the answer, but it turns out I’m only delaying good news.
Chewing the Cud of Good
Thankful for the people I get to write with Sunday through Monday, 11:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. As one of us greets the others when he logs into the zoom chat, “My peeples!”
Hi, Jule. Mark Harris here (SG Guild). I’m glad I looked for you online (to credit you for some of the creative writing graphics you’ve shared). I love your blog.
Incidentally, my wife is from Lexington. I was in rural KY during my 3rd through 5th grade years and loved wandering the woods and farms. We met at Eastern KY University. She graduated from there and I, two years later, from U of L.
Hi Mark! I’m glad you like the blog and am happy to know we have a bit of Kentucky in common. I grew up with an empty field behind the houses across the street and spent days wandering and discovering. Ah, the outdoors!