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e-Li: Electronic Library

Right-of-ways and Other Easements

An easement is an interest in land that is owned by another entity that entitles its holder to a specific limited use or right. Right-of-ways and other easement rights for which the county did not incur a cost are not required to be capitalized. If the easements were paid for by the county, they should be capitalized by actual or estimated historical cost.   

Example:
Blue County has right-of-ways for a certain distance on both sides of all county  roads. The county did not pay for these easement rights and private property owners that live next to the roads actually pay property taxes on the land under the roads. Since Blue County did not pay for these easement rights and the rights would cease if the road was taken off the county road list (i.e. no longer a county asset), management has decided not to capitalize these easements as infrastructure