C. 2004 Board of ReviewCITYOF
CHANHASSEN
77(!(/klark i Buub,~ard
PO B,x 1,17
Charhassen MN 5531
Administration
Pbs, r;(: 952 227 100
F~x 952 227 ~!10
Building Inspections
PI {)F,e 952 227 1180
~, ~sz~, ,190
Engineering
Pl,one !)52 227 1!60
F~x 9~,'~ 'n7 ~170
Finance
P¥';~, 952 ?'~7 !140
!in2 227 11:0
Park & Recreation
P!ior ~: 9,52 227 !120
Fax 9,52227 1110
Recr(ation Center
2310 Csuiter Boulevard
Pi~)ne 952227 1400
Fax 9522271404
Planning &
Natural Resources
P hz;ne: 952 227 1130
Fa~ !52 2?7 11 iO
Public Works
1591 Park Road
Phone: 952 227 1300
Fax 952 227 1310
Senior Center
Pi~cue 952 227 112,5
Fax 952 227 I! !0
Web Site
,,rp
MEMORANDUM
TO:
Todd Gerhardt, City Manager
FROM:
DATE:
RE:
Justin Miller, Assistant to the City Manager...i ~
April 5, 2004 O~.~ -
2004 Board of Review
BACKGROUND
Each year the City Council sits as the local Board of Review and Equalization.
Attached you will find the duties and descriptions of a local Board of Review.
On Monday night, residents will have the opportunity to provide either written or
oral objections concerning their property valuation or classification. In the past,
the Board of Review has listened to the individual comments and directed the
County Assessor to contact each property owner to set up a time to review their
request. However, if there are only a few residents present on Monday night, and
the assessor feels confident in their valuation or is agreeable to a change, final
action can be taken at this meeting.
If further discussions need to occur between the assessor and property owner,
staff recommends that the Board of Review make a motion to continue the
hearing to April 26th at 6:30, and that the County Assessor provides a written
recommendation for each objection that could not be acted upon at tonight's
meeting.
} p q ~ t
The City of Chanhassen · A growir~g commur~ity with clean takes quaiity schools a charming downtown lhriviug ,}asin~ssi!, winding trails and b~ aJti,ul parks A grea~ place [o ii,,e work and pla,?
City of Chanhassen 2004 Assessment Summary
$46,336,600 $5,075,200 $859,400 $528,200 $52,799,400
Chanhassen Value Distribution 2004
[] Commercial/
Industrial
12%
[] Other
[] Apartment 3%
[] Residential
85%
[] Residential
[] Commercial/
Industrial
[] Apartment
[] Other
A.G. Op. 474d (Aug. 28, 1961).
Minn. Stat. §§ 469.310 469.320.
Go to www.dted.state.mn.us/jobz-
f. asp for the most up-to-date
information of Minnesota's JOB
zones.
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, Public property, including all city-owned property, for exclusive public
purpose use.
· Real and personal property for the abatement and control of air or water
pollution.
There are a number of other specific types of properties listed as exempt from
property taxes.
Local governments in Minnesota may not generally exempt any land from
taxation for the purpose of attracting or keeping industry.
Under 2003 legislation, the commissioner of the Dept. of Employment and
Economic Development (DEED) can designate up to 10 "job opportunity
zones" (JOBZ) in areas outside the seven-county metropolitan area that meet
specified economically-distressed criteria. These zones provide property tax
breaks to businesses to encourage job growth and business investment.
Contact DEED at (651) 297-1291 for information on Minnesota's JOBZ
zones.
K. Equalization procedures
Once the assessors have completed their work, the city, county, and state
levels of government review and modify the assessments with limitations.
During this review, two kinds of corrections are possible: the governing body
may check the assessor's lists for accuracy, hear individual complaints and
make any necessary adjustments; and, the governing body may equalize the
ratio of market to assessed market values. The first function is the sole
concern of the city board of review, while the county and state boards devote
more time to the latter task.
When the entire procedure is complete, the county auditor puts the valuations
in the records to use when making up the tax rate figures. Only when all three
levels of government have reviewed and equalized the assessments, do they
become the official assessed values.
Minn. Stat. § 274.01, subd. l(a).
Minn. Stat. § 274.0I, subd. 2.
1. City board of review
The city council serves as the board of review in cities unless the power is
delegated to a special board of review or to the county, as described below.
The city council may appoint a special board of review. It may delegate to the
board all of the powers and duties the council would have if it acted as the
board of review. The members of the special board of review serve at the
direction and discretion of the council. The council determines the number of
members, the compensation and expense payments, and the term of office. At
least one member of the board must be an appraiser, realtor or familiar with
property valuations in the assessment district.
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22-7
Minn. Stat. § 274.01, subd. 3.
Minn. Stat. § 274.01, subd. l(a),
(e).
Minn. Stat. § 274.01, subd. l(a).
Minn. Stat. § 274.01. subd. l(g).
Minn. Stat. § 274.01, subd. l(b).
Minn. Stat. § 274.01, subd. 1 (d).
Minn. Stat. § 274.01. subd. 1(0.
CHAFFER 22
Instead of performing the duties of a board of review itself or delegating it to
a special board of review, any city council of a city for which the county does
the assessing, may transfer its local board of review or equalization power and
duties to the county board.
The board of review meets in the city clerk's office. The city assessor and the
county assessor must attend this meeting with their assessment books and
papers. These officials may take part in the proceedings, but may not vote.
The meeting date of the board of review must be between April 1 and May
31, and is fixed by the county assessor on or before Feb. 15 of each year by
giving written notice to the city clerk. After receiving the notice, the clerk
must give published and posted notice of the meeting at least 10 days before
the date of the meeting.
A majority of the members may take action at the board of review meeting,
and may adjourn the meeting from day to day for a period of 20 days until
they complete their work. After 20 days, the board has no authority and any
action it takes is invalid unless the commissioner of revenue has granted an
extension.
In fulfilling its role, the board of review has three main functions:
· It must review the assessor's list, making sure all taxable property in the
city has been properly placed on the list.
It must review the assessor's valuations, striving to standardize the ratio
between market value and adjusted market value for each individual piece
of property. To accomplish this, the board may raise or lower valuations
on individual properties, but it cannot increase valuations without
notifying the property owner and giving that person an opportunity to be
heard.
· The board must hear and settle the complaints of individual property
owners regarding the valuations on their property.
A local board does not have authority to grant an exemption or to order
property removed from the tax rolls.
If a person fails to appear in person or through counsel or written
communication before the board of review after receiving notice of intent to
raise the assessment, or if a person fails to apply for a review of the
assessment, that person may not appear before the county board of
equalization for a review of the assessment. An exception is when the
assessment takes place after the meeting of the board of review, or when
aggrieved individuals can establish that they did not receive notice at least
five days before the local board of review meeting.
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HANDBOOK FOR MINNESOTA CITIES
Minn. Stat. § 274.01, subd. l(c).
Minn. Stat. § 274.01, subd. l(g).
Minn. Stat. § 274.13.
Minn. Stat. § 274.13.
Minn. Stat. § 274.13, subd. 1(7).
Minn. Stat. § 375.192.
Minn. Stat. § 270.11, subds. 1, 6.
See also, Minn. Stat. § 274.13,
subd. 1 (a).
Minn. Stat. § 270.12.
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The local board of review may not reduce the total or aggregate amount of the
county assessor's assessment by more than one percent. This means the board
must often compensate for reductions in assessed values by making
comparable increases in assessments against other parcels of property.
All complaints about an assessment or classification made after the meeting of
the board must be heard and determined by the county board of equalization.
2. County board of equalization
The county board of equalization consists of either the county auditor and the
county commissioners, or a special board of equalization appointed by the
auditor and the board of county commissioners. The statutes establish meeting
dates.
Although the county board of equalization may decrease and, after notice to
the taxpayer, increase individual valuations, its primary task is to secure
uniformity of assessed value from district to district, with only occasional
attention to uniformity between taxpayers within any one district. The board
may not reduce the aggregate valuations of either real or personal property in
the county below the amounts the assessors have determined, but it may
increase these amounts.
The county board does not have the authority to grant an exemption or to
order the property removed from the tax rolls.
Upon the property owner's application, the board may change a property's
homestead classification or reduce its market value, reducing or refunding any
taxes the property owner erroneously or unjustly paid.
3. State board of equalization
The commissioner of revenue acts as the state board of equalization. The
commissioner's primary assessment task is to ensure uniformity of valuations
between counties. The commissioner may adjust valuations between districts
and between classes of property. The commissioner may raise or lower
individual assessments, but may increase individual assessments only after the
taxpayer has received notice and has had an opportunity to be heard. The
commissioner may not reduce the aggregate value of all property in the state
by more than 1 percent below the total the county boards of equalization have
reported. The commissioner may order a reassessment of property in any
district.
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CIqAPTER 22
Minn. Stat. § 271.01.
Minn. Stat. § 271.04.
Minn. Stat. § 271.21.
Minn. Stat. § 271.06.
See MN Revenue Sales Tax Fact
Sheet 164, Local Sales and ~xe
Tax.
Minn. Stat. § 297A.99.
Minn. Stat. § 469.190.
Minn. Stat. § 477A.013.
See League memo, Guidelinesfi)r
Preparing Ci(v Budgets, for a more
detailed discussion of LGA.
4. Appeals to tax court
The tax court is the final authority for the hearing and determination of all
questions under the property tax laws of the state, except for an appeal to the
Supreme Court. The tax court has no jurisdiction involving an order of the
state board of equalization unless a taxpayer contests the valuation of the
property.
The tax court must hold hearings at any place in the state so taxpayers may
appear before the court with as little inconvenience and expense to the
taxpayer as possible.
The small claims division of the tax court has jurisdiction in any case
concerning the valuation, assessment or taxation of certain homesteaded
property and of non-homesteaded property if the estimated market value is
less than $300,000. The small claims division also hears cases concerning the
tax laws in which the amount in controversy does not exceed $5,000,
including penalties and interest.
The notice that goes to the taxpayer of the assessment, determination or order
of the commissioner or the appropriate unit of government should include
written notice that the taxpayer has the right to appeal to the tax court and, if
applicable, to the small claims division.
L. Other taxes
As mentioned earlier, the Legislature has granted cities the authority to
impose some utility taxes and taxes on lodging, as well as special sales taxes
for some cities. In order to impose a local sales tax, a city must obtain special
legislation.
A city may impose, by ordinance, a local lodging tax up to a 3 percent tax on
the gross receipts of lodging in the city; 95 percent of the gross proceeds must
be used to fund a local convention or tourism bureau for the purposes of
marketing and promoting the city.
II.
Local government aid
Local government aid (LGA) is a state aid to local governments. LGA has
undergone several changes since its creation in 1971. LGA has replaced most
of the individual taxes, such as cigarette, liquor, bank excise, and gross
earnings taxes, which the state previously distributed to local governments
under various laws. LGA, like other aspects of the state tax system, is now
manipulated by the Legislature annually.
The 2003 Legislature enacted a new LGA program that includes a new
formula for cities over 2,500 population and an update of the existing formula
for small cities.
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