Agenda Packets - 1983/07/18 - Laserfiche WebLink

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LIt, 5- MEMO TO: Mayor and City Counci FROM: Clerk -Administrator DATE: July 11, 1983 SUBJECT: RAMSEY COUNTY SPECIAL ASSESSMENT RECORDS As you may recall, during the presentation of the 1982 Financial Statements for the City of: Mounds View, our auditors indicated that significant delays occurred in the preparation of their audit work due to the inadequacy of special assessment records maintained by Ramsey County. It was determined at that time that Mayor McCarty send a letter to County Commission Chairman Warren Schaber outlining our concerns and requesting that the County undertake measures to insure that special assessment information is available on a timely basis. Attached to this memorandum please find a copy of Mayor McCarty's letter, as well as a copy of the response from Commission Chairman Schaber. Also attached is a copy of a memorandum from Finance Director Brager to myself responding to statements in Commissioner Schaber's letter. I would not only concur with the conclusions reached by Finance Director Brager regarding the fact that special assessment records are not maintained on the County's computer system which is an extremely advanced system and more than capable of handling these records but would also add the following comments and conclusions: 1. This office receives c-epies of all n=— Co�;,i—on r meeting minutes and it is my observationithat on a regular basis the County Commission has waived their hiring freeze and allowed the filling of positions in areas where the need for the positions is no greater than that experienced by the Tax Accounting Section of the Revenue Division of Ramsey County. I am not aware of any attempts being made by the Revenue Division to request the County Board authorize the hiring of new employees to replace employees lost as a result of death, retirement, reassignment, or promotion as indicated in Leonard F. Olson's memorandum of June 17, 1983. 2. In a memorandum from Leonard Olson to Lou McKenna, dated October 11, 1977 and included in the attached information, Mr. Olson cites Minnesota Statute 429.061, Subd. 3, which states in part, "All assessments and interest thereon shall be collected and paid over in the same manner as other municipal taxes." In my opinion, this clearly places the responsibility for the collection of assessments on the counties as they are responsible for collection of all other municipal property taxes and,without requesting an opinion from the City Attorney, it would appear that the County does not have the authority to charge for these services as they are statutorily required. This would seem to contradict