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Franklin County Auditor Helping Farmers Hurt By Rainy Weather

Recently-sprouted soybeans on a farm in Central Ohio.
Nick Evans
/
WOSU
Recently-sprouted soybeans on a farm in Central Ohio.

Farmers who couldn’t plant crops due to wet weather this spring will be able to get tax breaks on their land more easily, thanks to a change from the Franklin County Board of Revision.

"Our office is making things easier on farmers by extending the period that they can have their property be fallow," says Franklin County Auditor Michael Stinziano.

He says the changes are an attempt to streamline the process for farmers to get tax breaks for land that was not planted on. 

"If we needed to come and challenge the designation of what was or wasn’t used for the property, the action that we took by the board of revision today allows them to not have to come in and we can work with them remotely, so sharing to save and cut down on the bureaucracy of the process," Stinziano says. 

Ohio saw its rainiest year on record, and its worst ever weather-prevented planting season, in 2019.

Stinziano says he expects about 60 local farmers to take advantage of the tax break.