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40 | Page <br />Assessment Process: Statutory Requirements Minnesota law establishes specific requirements for the entire property tax system, including the assessment of property (M.S. Chapter 273). These requirements have not changed during the past year. The laws require the following: 1. All real property is to be valued at market value, which is defined as the usual or most likely selling price at the time of assessment. Special qualified exclusions such as the Veterans’ Exclusion are subtracted from the market value to arrive at the taxable value. 2. Property is classified according to state law, and the tax capacity is calculated. 3. The tax capacity is multiplied by the tax rate (the total of county, school, city, and miscellaneous levies) to determine the amount of property tax. The annual property assessment focuses on the very first step of this process - establishing an estimated market value for each parcel of property. Market values are assessed locally by either a county employed appraiser or a locally hired assessor. The work of both county and local assessors is monitored by the County Assessor, whose work is in turn monitored by the Minnesota Department of Revenue. The monitoring agency is authorized by law to adjust the property assessment to help ensure county-wide and state-wide equalization of property assessments. The County Assessor has established the standard that all Washington County communities, with at least six (6) sales in their sales study, has a community median ratio in the range of <br />93%-96% of actual market values in relationship to time-adjusted sales prices. At times, local assessment levels have been adjusted by the County Assessor or the State of Minnesota. State law also requires that each individual property be reviewed by the assessor at least once every five years. Each community has a rotating revaluation schedule to ensure that this requirement is met. <br /> What is market value? Minnesota Statue 273.03 defines market value as “… the usual selling price at the time of assessment.” The Assessor’s Office works throughout the year to estimate market values of each property for the following January 2 assessment date.