Assessment Practices Review Panel - St. Louis County

As discussed in paragraph 2.4.4, the current average per parcel assessment cost is $25.
Under a True County scenario (including the City of Duluth) the average cost is projected
to drop to $22.28 per parcel. Property owners will see, on average, an 11% to 18% drop
with the exception of property owners in the unorganized townships who currently pay on
average $6 per parcel.
3.7.3 Considerations (political and organizational) True County system.
Moving from a local assessed to a True County system is a structural change and has
major transition implications. As part of the decision making, it is important that these
implications are made explicit in order to be able to weigh whether the potential benefit of
changing the system outweighs the potential (legacy) cost of moving away from the
current system. The assessment panel inventoried the potential negative impacts a True
County system could have and inventoried the consequences that lie in the realm of the
organizational ramifications and political considerations.
The organizational and political ramifications form the majority of the concerns relating
to a transition from a mixed assessment system to a True County system. These are
discussed below:
There will be upfront transition cost
There will be upfront transition cost associated with moving from a locally assessed to a
True County system. Such costs include hiring and training additional county assessor
staff and providing them with the tools they need to carry out their work, as well as cost
associated with transitioning the assessment from the local jurisdictions to the county.
These costs need to be further specified as part of a transition road map.
Level of service may change for local jurisdictions
Some panel members have expressed a concern for potential increased distance between
public and county assessor versus a local assessor who lives in the community (including
geographic distance as well as knowledge of the local situation). The county assessor staff
may be less available to the public and system users, as the county holds daytime office
hours and contract assessors often have more flexible hours which include evening and
weekends.
A transfer of responsibility from the local jurisdictions to the county could impact city
departments. Local assessors often fulfill additional tasks within the city that are not taken
over by the county in a True County system. The service level to the local jurisdiction
may be less (for example, the ability to provide financial information on properties or be
present during truth-in-taxation meetings).
Impacts on local (contract) assessors
A True County system means that local jurisdictions will no longer employ local
assessors. This may impact the positions of the local assessors conducting the
assessments. This can be addressed in part through transition management where
qualified staff may be absorbed by the County Assessor’s office and through attrition.
St. Louis County Assessment Practices Review Panel Draft Report February 2012 Page 31