Assessment Practices Review Panel - St. Louis County

of stepping in and redoing assessments. This is a heavy handed measure which not only
financially impacts the local jurisdiction but also impacts the county assessor’s ability to
plan for required resources and carry out other tasks.
The St. Louis County Assessor’s office conducts a records audit of each local assessor in
December of each year and monitors the work to determine if there are any deficiencies.
Any deficiencies are addressed based on the procedure outlined in Section IV of the
policy statement on the Responsibilities of Local Assessors (Appendix III – Local
Assessor Policy and Procedures). Finally, when local contract assessors are not
performing according to Board of Assessors’ professional and ethics standards, their
license can be withdrawn.
For the assessment practices of the City of Duluth, a city of the first class, the county
depends on the DoR to address quality concerns.
The county depends on the willingness of the entities described above to address quality
concerns within their jurisdiction. These entities have, in some cases, demonstrated a lack
of interest or reluctance in addressing issues when problems were brought to their
attention by St. Louis County. The key reason brought up by the DoR is a lack of
resources to investigate complaints. The Board of Assessors indicates it interprets its role
primarily in the realm of assessor education and licensing. It also indicates a lack of
resources to adequately investigate professional behavior and ethics violation complaints,
even though statutorily they have the power to suspend or revoke a license based on
failure to perform statutory duties, or commits acts detrimental to the assessment
profession or in violation of the Code of Conduct and Ethics for a Licensed Minnesota
Assessor. Local jurisdictions may lack the political will to address quality concerns
brought up by the County and choose not to take action. As a result, the county is left with
limited options to remedy problems which can severely impact the TUF principle of the
countywide assessment process.
Communication between the County Assessor’s department and some local
assessors can be improved
There is a need for improved coherence within the county assessment team (local and
county assessors). This impacts the ability to operate an assessment system that can
achieve the TUF performance indicators. A number of issues need to be addressed in
order to improve coherence and uniformity of practices between all assessors:
- There is a perception of an “us-versus-them” mentality between some of the local and
county assessors. This needs to be addressed. The barriers to operating as an effective
team must be taken down and both sides have to take their responsibility in achieving
this.
- Mandatory participation by local assessors in training, assessment practices and
legislative updates [authorized by Minn. Stat. 273.061, subd. 8, (4)] is not practically
enforceable. This can result in information gaps between assessors and variance in
how the assessment practice is carried out.
- Acknowledging that assessments always have a certain level of subjectivity, limited
interaction between assessors and limited information sharing can result in greater
variances.
St. Louis County Assessment Practices Review Panel Draft Report February 2012 Page 21