JEFFERSON CITY – A panel of state lawmakers, local tax assessors and renewable energy groups held their first meeting Wednesday aimed at addressing tax issues surrounding large solar energy farms.

Kendell Edwards, a solar engineer with Ameren, looks at solar panels at Ameren Missouri’s Montgomery Community Solar Center in New Florence, Mo. on Thursday, June 2, 2022. The solar power facility was put into service early in 2022 and is the largest Ameren Missouri solar energy center at 5.7 MW. Photo by David Carson, dcarson@post-dispatch.com
David Carson
As part of the legislation approved last spring, the new Task Force on Fair, Nondiscriminatory Local Taxation Concerning Solar Energy Systems was tasked with compiling a report to help lawmakers make policy on how to tax local governments. the solar energy projects.
Last August, the Missouri Supreme Court struck down a 2013 state law that provided a property tax exemption for certain solar energy systems. The court said the tax break was not allowed under the state constitution.
The case involves a solar farm that supplies energy for Springfield. The ruling means the company owes Greene County more than $400,000 in back taxes.
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The high court’s decision comes as Florida-based NextEra Energy Resources is in negotiations with Callaway County to build a large solar farm in the New Bloomfield area, north of Jefferson City.
But, like some residents in that area, task force member Cindy O’Laughlin, a Republican state senator from Shelbina, said she’s concerned about the acres of solar panels being installed on farm.
“Thousands of acres of productive farmland are covered in solar panels,” O’Laughlin said. “Doesn’t seem like the best idea.”
Jon Dolan, executive director of the Missouri Solar Energy Industries Association, said solar farms make up less than 1% of the state’s farmland.
The task force is led by Sen. Mike Cierpiot, R-Lee’s Summit, and includes members of the House and Senate. In addition, the panel included Debbie McGinnis, commissioner of the State Tax Commission, two county assessors, pork and soybean industry officials and Kevin Gunn, a representative of NextEra.
Progress on a proposed 100-megawatt project in Callaway County has sparked controversy in the New Bloomfield area. Residents there lined the regional paper with signs opposing the project.
After the Supreme Court’s decision, local officials are happy that there may be a fix on the tax issue, leaving individual counties and municipalities on their own when it comes to mapping out a tax plan to those facility.
Callaway County Commissioner Roger Fischer, for example, told the Post-Dispatch that requiring solar project developers to pay property taxes would bring more money to the county than through a negotiated settlement. from companies instead of taxes.
The high court’s decision could also be positive for companies like NextEra because it would eliminate the need for them to negotiate payments with individual counties.
Rep. Doug Richey, R-Excelsior Springs, said the counties are looking to the state to launch a plan to standardize how solar projects are taxed.
“Now we have local assessors who have the ability to evaluate in different ways,” Richey said. “They want the state to set the parameters.”
Another member of the panel, Christian County Assessor Danny Gray, agreed.
“We’re looking for a consistent way to value these things,” Gray said.
The committee is scheduled to tour a solar farm next week before taking testimony in November. The panel is required to deliver a report to the General Assembly by December 31.