7.1. SR 02-22-2005
Item # 7. 1 .
MEMORANDUM
TO: Mayor and City Council
FROM: Joan Schmidt, City Clerk
DATE: February 22, 2005
SUBJECT: Board of Appeal and Equalization and
Mandatory Training
The County Assessor has tentatively set the local Board of Appeal and Equalizatioa meeting
for Monday, April 25, 2005, at 6:30 p.m. This is a fourth Monday so hopefully this date will
work for Council. I wish to remind everyone that a quorum of City Councilmembers is
necessary .
I have attached information from the League of MN Cities regarding mandatory training for
voting members of a local Board of Appeal and Equalization. At is mandatory to have one
voting member trained and it is advisable to have at least two voting members trained. This
mandate begins with the 2006 local boards.
I have also attached a letter from Gerald Kritzeck, Sherburne County Assessor, who is
planning on having training on February 28, 2005, at the Government Center at 6:30 p.m.
This training should last approximately 2 % hours. The Council may wish to decide which
two Councilmembers would have the responsibility of attending this training. All of the
Council is welcome to attend. Please let me know who will be in attendance.
ACTION REQUESTED
1. Motion to schedule the City of Elk River Board of Appeal and Equalization for the
date of Monday, April 25 at 6:30 p.m., at Sherburne County Government Center.
2. Motion to have Councilmember and Councilmember
attend the local Board of Appeal and Equalization training on February 28, 2005 at
6:30 p.m.
S:\Council\Joan\Board of Review RFCA200S.doc
FEB 0 4 2005
Sherburne County
ASSESSOR
GERALD E. KRITZECK, S.A.M.A.
February 2, 2005
13880 Highway 10
Elk River, MN 55330
(763) 241-288001-800-438-0577 0 Fax: 241-2869
www.co.sherburne.mn.us
City of Elk River
City Hall 13065 Orono Parkway PO Box 490
Elk River, MN 55330
Dear City of Elk River,
RE: LOCAL BOARD OF APPEAL AND EQUALIZATION DATE AND TIME
I have tentatively set your local Board of Appeal and Equalization meeting for April 25, 2005 at 6:30 P.M.
Please contact my office as soon as possible if this date conflicts with your schedule so I can reschedule an
alternate date and/or time. The Department of Revenue requires us to submit a copy of the minutes oflocal
Board of Appeal and Equalization proceedings within ten working days after the meeting takes place. You
MUST provide a clerk to take minutes. The minutes from your meeting should be in my office within five
working days after the above date so that we can meet the required deadline set by the State of Minnesota.
Also, it is imperative that a quorum of your city council members be present for the meeting, so please keep
that in mind when reviewing the proposed date and time. Lack of a quorum means no legal meeting and no
action possible at the local level. Thus, people in attendance would receive a letter explaining that fact and
directing them to attend the County Board of Appeal and Equalization if they want to pursue obtaining a
change in value or classification.
Thank you for your continued cooperation, I am looking forward to working with you again this year.
Respectfully,
Gerald E. Kritzeck, S.A.M.A.
Sherburne County Assessor
GEKljm
Training required for members of local boards of appeal
and equalization
Jacque Betz, MN Department of Revenue
Legislation enacted in the 2003 session
requires that there be at least one
voting member at each meeting of a
local board of appeal and equalization
(beginning with the 2006 local boards)
who has attended an appeals and
equalization course developed or
approved by theconmlissioner of
Revenue within the last four years.
(The member must attend the course
no later than Jan. 1, 2006, and each year
thereafter.) The appeals and equaliza-
tion course details the responsibilities,
procedures, and requirements oflocal
boards of appeal and equalization.
The legislation also required the
commissioner of Revenue to develop
a handbook to be reviewed during the
course. The handbook includes infor-
mation about:
. The role of the local board in the
asse"SSl11ent process.
. The legal and policy reasons for fair
and impartial appeal and equaliza-
tion hearings.
. Local board meeting procedures
that foster fair and impartial assess-
ment reviews and other best practices
recommendations.
. Quorum requirements for local
boards.
. Explanations of alternate methods
of appeal.
More than one board member
encouraged to attend training
While the law only requires that one
voting board member attend the
appeals and equalization course within
the last four years, the Department of
Revenue recommends that additional
board members attend the training.
The member who has attended the
training session must be present at the
local board of appeal and equalization
meeting. If that member fails to attend
the meeting due to illness or other
circumstances, the board is deemed
to have transferred its duties to the
county. Having more than one board
member attend the course can elimi-
nate situations in which unforeseen
circumstances result in.a failure to
comply with the training requirement.
Must be voting member to satisfy
requirements
Please note that a voting member of
the board must attend the appeals and
equalization course to meet the train-
ing requirements. Generally, the council
or other governing body of a city is
the local board of appeal and equal-
ization. While city clerks are encour-
aged to attend the training, the clerk's
attendance will only satisfY the train-
ing requirements if the clerk is a voting
member of the board.
Course materials
An electronic copy of the handbook
is available on the Department of
Revenue web site. Each attendee will
receive a printed copy of the handbook
at the training session. A presentation,
developed in conjunction with the
handbook, is also available on the
Department of Revenue web site.
To access the training information,
visit: www.taxes.state.mn.us (click
"Property tax adnlinistrators" in the
left navigation panel, then "Local gov-
ernments/schools," then "Local Board
of Appeal and Equalization training").
Training sessions
Your county assessor will notifY you
of the training session(s) to be held
in your county. If you are unable to
attend the training session(s) in your
county or it is more convenient for
you to attend a training session in
another county, check the Depart-
ment of Revenue web site for dates,
times, and locations of upconling
training sessions. You will need to
contact the county assessor in the
county where -the training will be
located to register for the course and
to be certain space is available. More
training sessions will be scheduled, so
please check the web site for addi-
tional dates and locations.
No certifications will be mailed
Please note that you will not receive
a certification after attending the
appeals and equalization course. On
Jan. 1 of each year (beginning Jan. 1,
2006), the Department of Revenue
will send a list with the names of all
local board of appeal and equalization
members who have attended the
training within the last four years
to the county assessor. If your local
board has a member who has attended
the training within the last four
years, the county assessor will con-
tact your board to schedule a local
board of appeal and equalization
meeting. If your local board does not
have a member in compliance with
the training requirement, the county
assessor will notifY your board and
change the local board of appeal and
equalization meeting to an open book
meeting. t"
January 19, 2005
Page 9
Sherburne County
ASSESSOR
February 9,2005
GERALD E. KRITZECK, S.A.M.A.
13880 Highway 10
Elk River, MN 55330
(763) 241-2880 01-800-438-05770 Fax: 241-2869
City of Elk River
City Hal113065 Orono Parkway PO Box 490
Elk River, MN 55330
RE: Mandatory Training for Local Board of Appeal & Equalization
Dear Council Member:
As you probably have heard, legislation enacted in the 2003 session requires that
there be at least one member at each meeting of a Local Board of Appeal and
Equalization (beginning with the 2006 local boards) who has attended an appeals and
equalization course developed or approved by the Commissioner of Revenue within the
last four years.
In order to meet the requirement for the 2006 local boards, at least one member
must attend the course by January 1, 2006. In subsequent years, each local board meeting
must have one member who has attended the course within the last four years.
In an effort to facilitate this process, an appeals and equalization course will be
offered at the Sherburne County Commissioners Room on Monday, February 28, 2005, at
6:30 p.m. I would encourage each town board or city council to consider sending two
members to gain some assurance that at least one member who is certified will be present
at the meeting.
Please R.S.V.P. to the Assessor's Department with the name or names ofthose
who will attend.
Thank you,
Gerald E. Kritzeck
Sherburne County Assessor