Wadena County Truth in Taxation draws usual crowd

At the Truth in Taxation meeting held Nov. 29, Wadena County officials spoke with 23 citizens who were in attendance at the courthouse in Wadena.

As has become customary, most of the citizens had come to the wrong meeting. The Truth in Taxation meeting is not about property assessment for 2016, payable in 2017, property taxes. It’s about the county budget and levy setting process.

Most of the people who came to the meeting wanted to discuss the assessment of their property. Those conversations need to be with County Assessor Lee Brekke during normal business hours at the courthouse, 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Monday through Friday.

In addition, each city and township holds a local property tax meeting in April, the date of which is printed on the annual property tax form that each property owner receives. Property owners must attend those local meetings before coming to the annual June Board of Adjustment meeting held at the courthouse to dispute their proposed property tax amounts.

All the information citizens need regarding their property taxes can be found on the county’s website: www.co.wadena.mn.us/228/Assessor. 

Each year valuation notices are sent out in late March, local Boards of Appeal and Equalization are held in April; with the County Board of Appeal and Equalization held the third Monday in June. The State Board is held the beginning of June.

County Board Chair Jim Hofer made the announcement about the purpose of the Truth in Taxation meeting and told property owners that the assessor’s office is located in the lower level of the courthouse, where they could make an appointment with Wadena County Assessor Lee Brekke. Most of the people left the Truth in Taxation meeting to do that.

Auditor/Treasurer Judy Taves gave a brief overview of the county’s budget process and the levy of taxes to support the portion of county expenses that are not paid by the State of Minnesota or the Federal Government.

The proposed county budget for 2017 is $22,488,681, of which, county taxpayers provide $8,768,591 or about 26 percent. The remainder, 74 percent is paid by the State of Minnesota and the U.S. Government.

Commissioner Bill Stearns told the few members of the audience that the county budget is composed of seven funds, five of which (General Revenue, Road and Bridge, Public Health, Building, Social Services) contain tax dollars and two (Transit and Solid Waste) do not contain tax dollars.

Stearns told the group that the total budget of $22 million to run the county is used to administer the programs that the state and federal government require. “County government is a function of the state government,” he explained. “We do what they tell us to do,” because by law, that’s what commissioners, elected officials and appointed officials must do.

A county can’t decide not to maintain its roads or care for its vulnerable citizens or provide for public safety.

Several citizens asked questions about land assessments, property tax levy increases and the problems that retired people have when taxes increase along with other expenses like health insurance premiums.

The meeting was adjourned at 7 p.m.