While the exemption may seem simple on the surface, the law contains some ambiguities that are making it a bit difficult for assessors to plan ahead. The biggest question pertains to renewable energy facilities that are fixtures to real property. For instance, a piece of real estate may be benefitted by solar panels, but the municipality may have not specifically accounted for the value of those panels in making the overall valuation for the property. PL 440 will allow taxpayers to file a “report” with the assessor(s) by April 1 of the relevant tax year “identifying” the property for which exemption is claimed. The law is unclear as to whether it would require the assessor to reduce the assessment by the claimed value of the solar panels even if those panels were not considered in making the assessment.
The new law directs the Department of Revenue Services to provide guidance by December 1, 2019, regarding the methods by which renewable energy facilities should be valued. Although the law does not specifically mandate municipalities to assess renewable energy facilities, the intent appears to be that municipalities will value the facilities (with guidance from Revenue Services), and then that value will then be subject to exemption. For the purposes of the 2019-2020 tax year, municipalities are still free to assess solar and wind facilities according to their standalone value or to their impact on the overall property value. The Cumberland County Superior Court recently upheld the Town of Brunswick’s practice of applying per-panel assessment for solar facilities, finding that the panels did have inherent value and that the taxpayers had not proven otherwise.
