CHEYENNE - A Wyoming rancher whose property taxes skyrocketed after using a new preservation scheme is headed to a state board that will settle how subdivisions used as agricultural land should be taxed.

John Jenkins of Buffalo is challenging state tax law. His property tax went from $4,000 in 2007 to $120,000 last year.

That's because his ranch includes 99 one-acre lots platted as a subdivision. Jenkins says the lots are being sold as homesteads for preservation and should be taxed as agricultural land.

The State Board of Equalization will hear the case July 7 in Cheyenne.