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t3 Hennepin County Assessor Department A-2103 Government Center www.co.hennepin.mn.us Minneapolis,Minnesota 55487-0231 Df Y ?r October 16, 2003 Dear Administrator, This letter is to inform you of legislative changes made by the 2003 Legislature that effect the Local Boards of Appeal and Equalization. These changes provide that by no later than January 1, 2006, and each year thereafter, there must be at least one member at each local board meeting who has attended an appeals and equalization course developed or approved by the Commissioner of Revenue. The required course work must have been completed by the designated local board member(s)within the last four years of each annual local board meeting(s). A handbook will be developed by the Commissioner of Revenue, no later than January 1, 2005 and is to detail local board procedures, responsibilities, and requirements. A review of the handbook must be included in the local board course. Details of the course and handbook will be promulgated by the Department of Revenue at a later date. In addition, the new legislation also requires that the local boards provide proof of compliance with the course attendance, as well as, provide verification that a quorum was present at each of the local board meetings in the prior year. This legislation provides that any city or town that does not provide proof of compliance to the county assessor by December 1, 2006, and each year thereafter, is deemed to have transferred its board of appeal powers to the county for the following assessment. This transference of duties to the county is an "alternate review process" (M.S. 274.13 subd. 1 c.) and shall take place in April or May with 'open book" meetings. The open book meetings are where the county assessor shall make available a procedure for reviewing the assessments with the taxpayers. A copy of this 2003 legislation has been attached. In light of these legislative changes, I wanted to remind you that M.S. 274.01 subd.3 currently provides for the transference of duties from the local boards to the county assessor. This statute is only available to those cities whose assessment services are Performed by the county assessor. "The town board of any town or the governing body of any home rule charter or statutory city may transfer its powers and duties under subdivision 1 to the county board, and no longer M:\A21\Administrative\Policies and Procedures\Local Board of Appeal and Equalization An Equal Opportunity Employer Recycled Paper