04/20/1998 Council Minutes - Laserfiche WebLink

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• • • CITY COUNCIL BOARD OF REVIEW APRIL 20, 1998 seniors. He asked if there is anything that the City or City Council can do to encourage the legislators to enact such legislation. Mr. Smith said the main focus should be to get the senior citizens involved. The lobby is not strong enough at the legislature to get the point across. It has been introduced every year for the past five (5) or six (6) years and does not have enough support to get out of the House. It also needs more media coverage. The larger issue is class rates and it appears that the legislature is dealing with and lowering each class rate each year. Then the next question becomes where will the governments dependent upon property taxes make up the loss of revenue which happens when class rates are reduced. There are a lot of issues that the public is not aware of. Mr. Smith explained he has received approximately 30 calls of which 25 were from Lino Lakes residents regarding their property values. Normally he receives about 80 calls. Tax rates have gone down and there are more credits available so people are reasonably happy about their taxes. Mr. Smith said he did not expect to see anybody at this hearing tonight. He did receive a letter from a property owner, Nick Gargaro of Northern Wholesale Supply, PIN. R24-31-22-43-0011, and read it into the record. Mr. Smith said he has talked to Mr. Gargaro on the telephone and he has decided to go to the County Board of Equalization. Mr. Smith noted there is a minimum assessment agreement on the property with the City of Lino Lakes. At this point the valuation is above the minimum, however, the agreement means that it is just a minimum valuation. The County has hired a new commercial appraiser, who has reviewed a lot of commercial properties in the City and found they were considerable undervalued according to the market. That is why commercial values have increased for 1999. No action is needed by the Council on the Northern Wholesale Supply appeal. After this Board of Review, Mr. Smith will send a list of all the property owners who have contacted him asking for a review of their property value. This list will show what happened, if any changes were made, if any errors were made and the adjustment. If anything happens at the County Board of Equalization, the City Council would be notified of these results. In the past, property owners have requested the City Assessor to enter their name on the agenda for the County Board of Review so that they can appear at that meeting. Last year a resident asked to appear at the County Board of Equalization. Mr. Smith worked with this property for two (2) weeks in preparation for her appearance and she did not come to the meeting. A lot of time was spent for nothing and to avoid another such incidence, the Assessor's office will follow the proper procedure. Mr. Smith presented the abstract for signatures of the City Council. He also noted that if any resident needs help with the property tax program, they should call him. Council Member Lyden moved to adjourn at 7:00 p.m. Council Member Neal seconded the motion. Motion carried unanimously. These minutes were considered, corrected and approved at a regular meeting of the City Council on June 8, 1998. PAGE 3