Minnesota Session Laws - 1985, Regular Session

  

                         Laws of Minnesota 1985 

                         CHAPTER 9-S.F.No. 102 
           An act relating to natural resources; terms of payment 
          in county timber sales; amending Minnesota Statutes 
          1984, section 282.04, subdivision 1. 
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MINNESOTA: 
    Section 1.  Minnesota Statutes 1984, section 282.04, 
subdivision 1, is amended to read: 
    Subdivision 1.  [TIMBER SOLD FOR CASH.] The county auditor 
may sell timber upon any tract that may be approved by the 
natural resources commissioner.  Such sale of timber shall be 
made for cash at not less than the appraised value determined by 
the county board to the highest bidder after not less than one 
week's published notice in an official paper within the county.  
Any timber offered at such public sale and not sold may 
thereafter be sold at private sale by the county auditor at not 
less than the appraised value thereof, until such time as the 
county board may withdraw such timber from sale.  The appraised 
value of the timber and the forestry practices to be followed in 
the cutting of said timber shall be approved by the commissioner 
of natural resources.  Payment of the full sale price of all 
timber sold on tax-forfeited lands shall be made in cash at the 
time of the timber sale, except in the case of oral or sealed 
bid auction sales, the down payment shall be twenty 25 percent 
of the sale appraised value, and the remaining eighty percent 
balance shall be paid prior to entry.  In the case of auction 
sales that are partitioned and sold as a single sale with 
predetermined cutting blocks, the down payment shall be twenty 
25 percent of the sale appraised price of the entire timber sale 
which may be held until the satisfactory completion of the sale 
or applied in whole or in part to the final cutting block.  The 
value of each separate block must be paid in full before any 
cutting may begin in that block.  With the permission of the 
county administrator the purchaser may enter unpaid blocks and 
cut necessary timber incidental to developing logging roads as 
may be needed to log other blocks provided that no timber may be 
removed from an unpaid block until separately scaled and paid 
for.  The county board may require final settlement on the basis 
of a scale of cut products.  Any parcels of land from which 
timber is to be sold by scale of cut products shall be so 
designated in the published notice of sale above mentioned, in 
which case the notice shall contain a description of such 
parcels, a statement of the estimated quantity of each species 
of timber thereon and the appraised price of each specie of 
timber for 1,000 feet, per cord or per piece, as the case may 
be.  In such cases any bids offered over and above the appraised 
prices shall be by percentage, the percent bid to be added to 
the appraised price of each of the different species of timber 
advertised on the land.  The purchaser of timber from such 
parcels shall pay in cash at the time of sale at the rate bid 
for all of the timber shown in the notice of sale as estimated 
to be standing on the land, and in addition shall pay at the 
same rate for any additional amounts which the final scale shows 
to have been cut or was available for cutting on the land at the 
time of sale under the terms of such sale.  Where the final 
scale of cut products shows that less timber was cut or was 
available for cutting under terms of such sale than was 
originally paid for, the excess payment shall be refunded from 
the forfeited tax sale fund upon the claim of the purchaser, to 
be audited and allowed by the county board as in case of other 
claims against the county.  No timber, except hardwood pulpwood, 
may be removed from such parcels of land or other designated 
landings until scaled by a person or persons designated by the 
county board and approved by the commissioner of natural 
resources.  Landings other than the parcel of land from which 
timber is cut may be designated for scaling by the county board 
by written agreement with the purchaser of the timber.  The 
county board may, by written agreement with the purchaser and 
with a consumer designated by him when the timber is sold by the 
county auditor, and with the approval of the commissioner of 
natural resources, accept the consumer's scale of cut products 
delivered at the consumer's landing.  No timber shall be removed 
until fully paid for in cash.  Small amounts of timber not 
exceeding $3,000 in appraised valuation may be sold for not less 
than the full appraised value at private sale to individual 
persons without first publishing notice of sale or calling for 
bids, provided that in case of such sale involving a total 
appraised value of more than $200 the sale shall be made subject 
to final settlement on the basis of a scale of cut products in 
the manner above provided and not more than two such sales, 
directly or indirectly to any individual shall be in effect at 
one time.  As directed by the county board, the county auditor 
may lease tax-forfeited land to individuals, corporations or 
organized subdivisions of the state at public or private vendue, 
and at such prices and under such terms as the county board may 
prescribe, for use as cottage and camp sites and for 
agricultural purposes and for the purpose of taking and removing 
of hay, stumpage, sand, gravel, clay, rock, marl, and black dirt 
therefrom, and for garden sites and other temporary uses 
provided that no leases shall be for a period to exceed ten 
years; provided, further that any leases involving a 
consideration of more than $300 per year, except to an organized 
subdivision of the state shall first be offered at public sale 
in the manner provided herein for sale of timber. Upon the sale 
of any such leased land, it shall remain subject to the lease 
for not to exceed one year from the beginning of the term of the 
lease.  Any rent paid by the lessee for the portion of the term 
cut off by such cancellation shall be refunded from the 
forfeited tax sale fund upon the claim of the lessee, to be 
audited and allowed by the county board as in case of other 
claims against the county.  The county auditor, with the 
approval of the county board is authorized to grant permits, 
licenses, and leases to tax-forfeited lands for the depositing 
of stripping, lean ores, tailings, or waste products from mines 
or ore milling plants, upon such conditions and for such 
consideration and for such period of time, not exceeding 15 
years, as the county board may determine; said permits, 
licenses, or leases to be subject to approval by the 
commissioner of natural resources.  Any person who removes any 
timber from tax-forfeited land before said timber has been 
scaled and fully paid for as provided in this subdivision is 
guilty of a misdemeanor. The county auditor may, with the 
approval of the county board and the commissioner of natural 
resources, and without first offering at public sale, grant 
leases, for a term not exceeding 25 years, for the removal of 
peat from tax-forfeited lands upon such terms and conditions as 
the county board may prescribe. 
     Provided, however, that no lease for the removal of peat 
shall be made by the county auditor pursuant to this section 
without first holding a public hearing on his intention to 
lease.  One printed notice in a legal newspaper in the county at 
least ten days before the hearing, and posted notice in the 
courthouse at least 20 days before the hearing shall be given of 
the hearing. 
    Approved March 21, 1985