Assessment Practices Review Panel - St. Louis County

Public perception of changing to a True County system
A change of the system may lead to a negative perception among taxpayers regarding due
process. Part of the public may be concerned that their properties are no longer locally
assessed. An additional concern may be a lack of trust that a more centralized assessment
process (bigger government) is not necessarily better. *Note: One could argue that if
uniformity is the goal a centralized process is more likely to produce this as an outcome.
Political implications relationship with local jurisdictions
A change to a True County system requires local jurisdictions to give up a historically
local responsibility/right by statute.
Implications of a larger centralized organization
There is currently no good mechanism to manage/secure access to historical assessor data
such as field notes. These may get lost in a transition from a mixed assessed to a True
County system. This is, however, also a concern within the current system any time there
is a change in local assessor responsibilities. As the county moves toward electronic
record keeping this will become less of an issue moving into the future.
A larger organization may lead to more specialization. As a result the assessment process
in a jurisdiction may be divided between a number of persons, for example, commercial
and residential property assessors.
A True County system will shift cost distribution
A change in how the assessment process is paid for will result in winners and losers.
Unorganized township property owners will pay more, and property owners in organized
jurisdictions pay less. Further, the funding of the assessment process will shift from partly
fee-based funding at the local level to complete funding through the county’s general
levy.
City of Duluth True County cost implications
The City of Duluth, if it chooses to carry out its own assessment, will see an increase in
cost. They will employ their own assessor’s office plus fund a part of the county
assessor’s office as part of the county’s general levy. Under a True County system the
assessor’s portion of the general levy will increase for all taxpayers in the county
including those in the City of Duluth. Maintaining its own office will not allow the
elimination of local assessment cost for the city as will be the case for all other
jurisdictions.
St. Louis County Assessment Practices Review Panel Draft Report February 2012 Page 32