County Administrator Bobbie Hillery swore in county commissioners and Auditor/Treasurer Heather Broadwater to the Board of Appeal and Equalization at the June 18 meeting.
Stephen Hacken, interim county assessor, reviewed his report. He has been interim assessor for the past several months and will continue in that capacity to the end of this month.
Residential value trends have moderated. Valuations in cities with six or more sales have increased from 5% to 15%. Preston had the lowest increase at 5% and Rushford had the highest at 15%. The countywide average change in residential properties was 10%. The sales ratios for residential properties in cities and the county fall between 93% and 96%. The Department of Revenue requires ratios to be between 90% and 105%. All districts with six sales are compliant.
Hacken explained districts with less than six sales saw wide ranging changes (based on a five-year small size study). In the future, Fillmore County will place townships and small cities into a geographical sales study, splitting the county into four regions. This will help where there are very limited sales.
The county is currently divided between ABC tillable rates and Crop Productivity Index (CPI) valuation. As each township is reassessed, appraisers will convert tillable land to CPI. Rural land rates include “A” tillable land at $11,200 per acre, pasture at $4,000, woods at $5,300 and waste land at $1,800. The CPI multiplier is 115. All rural land ratios were compliant. Commissioner Randy Dahl asked about the difference between waste land and woods. Appraisers explained wasteland is typically not usable, like a sinkhole or really, really rough, very steep land.
Fillmore County had 13 commercial sales with a ratio of 92%. No district had six sales.
Hacken listed some issues the assessor’s office is or will be working on. The department is in the process of a thorough review of apartment buildings. Residential rates in cities ideally should reflect land as 15-20% of the total value of the property. The office will continue the conversion of tillable land values to CPI and continue to update residential properties.
Hacken addressed the difficulty of getting applicants to fill county assessor positions. He noted he had been a county assessor for 36 years. The job has become more difficult over the years.
Commissioners thanked him for the time he has served with the county as the interim assessor. Members of his staff said they have learned a lot from him.
No one from the public commented, as no one from the public attended this meeting. There were no walk-in appeals
The board did approve one adjustment for a residential property owner in Lanesboro. The owner had gone through the Board of Review. An appraiser looked at the property and recommended a reduction in value because the basement was not finished as originally stated. The board approved the reduction in valuation from $510,300 to $476,200.
Hacken noted another landowner in Fillmore Township that had requested a reduced valuation was told it could not be reduced. The owner wanted an adjustment for property that was in a conservation easement to the Minnesota Land Trust. Hacken said land that was put into an easement after 2013 cannot be lowered in value by the assessor. A Minnesota statute reads “the value of real property which is subject to a conservation easement shall not be reduced by the assessor…” It could only be lowered if it was a riparian buffer easement along a lake, river, or stream. This would usually be done through the Soil and Water Conservation District.
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