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How the Disabled Veteran's Market Value Exclusion works

Beginning with property taxes paid in 2009, disabled veterans who meet the qualifications may apply for one of two levels of market value exclusion from property taxes on their homesteads:

Veterans with at least a 70% but less than a 100% service-connected disability, permanent or non-permanent, and veterans with a 100% disability that is non-permanent qualify for a maximum of $150,000 of homestead market value excluded from the property tax.
Veterans with a 100% service-connected disability that is permanent qualify for a maximum of $300,000 of homestead market value excluded from the property tax.

All qualifying disabled veterans other than those with 100% permanent disabilities must reapply every year. And of those who must reapply, all veterans with disabilities NOT rated as permanent must ALSO supply a new letter from the VA updating the veteran’s disability status. The reapplication is done at the assessor’s office, and a copy of the updated letter must be presented to the assessor as well.

The application deadline is July 1.

If the qualifying veteran sells his home during an eligible year, the exclusion stays with the home for that year of the sale. The exclusion can not be transferred to another home until the next payable year.

Only homesteads owned and occupied by the qualifying veteran are eligible for the exclusion. Upon a married veteran’s death, one of two spousal survivorship scenarios will occur:

Spouses of veterans with disabilities rated less than 100% and those rated 100% but not permanent will receive the exclusion during the tax payable year coinciding with the veteran’s passing. The exclusion does not continue thereafter.
Spouses of veterans with disabilities rated 100% and permanent will receive the exclusion for the assessment year coinciding with the veteran’s passing plus one additional assessment year. The result of this is two additional tax years of the exclusion. These two additional years of the exclusion are lost, however, if the surviving spouse sells, transfers ownership, or changes the use of the property.

Know about the law that limits how much the assessor can raise my value

There are two state laws regarding market value for property tax purposes that at first glance seem to be contradictory.

Minnesota Statute 273.11 directs that “all property shall be valued at its market value.” Assessors are to value property at 100% of what they determine the market value to be.

However, in the early 1990s, as described in M.S. 273.11 subdivision 1a, the legislature enacted the “Limited Market Value” (LMV) law, which restricted how much of any value increase could be taxed in the years that followed the increase. The increase had to exceed a certain size, measured as a percentage, for the LMV law to kick in. If the LMV law did kick in, then the increase had to be phased in over several years based on a formula. The law applied to farms, homes, cabins, and timber land only.

So the two laws do not really contradict. The first instructs the assessor to value property at full market value.
The second prescribes how much of the market value to tax if the assessor calculates a new market value that causes an increase which exceeds a certain limit.

The result of all this is that during the time period of the early 1990s through approximately 2005, the real estate market was strong enough to keep the LMV law in effect (sunsets were extended over and over) and thousands and thousands of parcels statewide periodically had two values on the books: the full estimated market value (EMV) calculated by the assessor, and the LMV used by the County Auditor to calculate the property tax.

The LMV law was designed to protect taxpayers from large property tax increases during periods of substantial real estate appreciation over short periods of time. (The LMV concept had been used before the 1990s as well.)

The current sunset date for the LMV law is the January 2, 2008 assessment date for taxes payable in 2009. As the market has cooled in near historic fashion since 2005, the legislature has not seen the need for the law and has not extended its life. It will expire after the 2008 assessment and with a few minor exceptions, all properties will be taxed at their full market value beginning with taxes payable in 2010.

Know how my taxes are divided among local governments

The great majority of taxable parcels within the City of Duluth are classified for property tax purposes as residential or commercial-industrial. So below are two examples of how your tax bill is divided among the local governments. The examples below are from actual tax bills paid by one homesteading taxpayer and one commercial taxpayer for taxes paid in 2008.

In the examples below, the percentage of total taxes paid to each government entity is typical of the great majority of Duluth taxpayers. However, there are two small groups of taxpayers who pay a different amount of total tax because their property is either (1) located in both the City of Duluth and the Proctor School District, or
(2) located in both the City of Duluth and the North Shore Sanitary District. Thus, the City of Duluth has three different tax rates depending upon where your property is located.

Example #1: Property taxes on an owner occupied homestead with a taxable value of $160,000.

These are the property taxes after the homestead credit is applied and not including any special assessments.

Taxes to St. Louis County:              $ 823.46
Taxes to City of Duluth:                   $   323.70
Taxes to ISD 709:                           $   445.10
Taxes to Special Taxing Districts:      $     87.64*
Total Property Taxes:                     $ 1,679.90

Example #2: Property taxes on a commercial property with a taxable value of $160,000.

Taxes to St. Louis County:              $ 1,449.65
Taxes to City of Duluth:                  $ 569.85
Taxes to ISD 709:                          $    666.52
Taxes to Special Taxing Districts:     $ 154.29*
Taxes to State General Tax:            $ 1,125.75 (paid by commercial and seasonal properties only)
Total Property Taxes:                     $ 3,996.06

*Special taxing districts are entities with the authority to levy their own property taxes. Within the City of Duluth these authorities are the Duluth Transit Authority, the Seaway Port Authority, the Housing and Redevelopment Authority, Arrowhead Regional Development , and the St. Louis County Railroad Authority.

Know how new construction is assessed

New construction that adds value to real estate must be assessed for property tax purposes. There are two key issues related to new construction about which people are often concerned or curious.

First, when does new construction become taxable? The official assessment date of each calendar year is January 2. The assessor is to classify and value whatever improvements are made to the land as of January 2. For instance, a home started in November 2008 and 30% incomplete on January 2, 2009, will be assessed at 70% of its completed value. (The assessor employs a schedule of the stages of construction costs accrued to estimate the value of unfinished improvements.)

In the above example, the assessor must then return to the construction site in late 2009 early 2010 to assess how much of last year’s unfinished work is now done and add value for the additional completed work.

And yes, if a land owner starts building his home in March 2009 and can occupy by end of the summer, the home will not be assessed until January 2, 2010, for taxes payable in 2011. There was no home to assess on January 2, 2009. Only the value of the land can be assessed on January 2, 2009, for taxes payable in 2010.

Second, why has the assessor inspected my property several years in a row? The most common reason by far for annual inspections is incomplete construction. The assessor must make annual inspections of unfinished construction until the work is either completed or the assessor has evidence that the unfinished work will not advance in the foreseeable future.

Finally, new improvements to land that were missed over several years can nonetheless be assessed and taxed to back years as “omitted” assessments.

Know how the homestead credit works

The homestead credit is a reduction in the property tax on a homestead BEFORE the tax is billed to the taxpayer. The credit is funded by the state. The homestead credit is not to be confused with the property tax refund of income tax paid to the state for which homesteaders may qualify.

Only homestead properties are initially eligible for the credit, but not all homesteads will get a credit for the reason described below.

As of the January 2, 2008 assessment for taxes payable in 2009, the homestead credit is on a sliding scale related to the taxable market value (TMV) of the property.

Starting at $100 of TMV, the credit increases to a maximum of $304 as the TMV increases to and then attains $76,000. For each dollar of TMV above $76,000, the credit is reduced by .09% until the credit is zeroed out at a homestead TMV of $413,800.

The homestead credit is one example of the way Minnesota’s property tax system intentionally causes dissimilar tax bills for similarly valued properties. An owner-occupied homestead assessed at $100,000 will pay less property tax than a rental home right next door that is also assessed at $100,000.

Know how to appeal my classification and/or value

Minnesota law mandates a very specific appeals process with deadlines. Each year in early April you will receive from the City Assessor’s Office a notice of the value and classification assessed to your property for the following tax year. This notice marks the beginning of the appeals process. (A notice received in 2009 identifies a value and classification affecting taxes paid in 2010.) The notice will also describe the appeals process, including dates and locales.

First, Contact the City Assessor’s Office

First, call the City Assessor’s Office to discuss questions or concerns about your value and/or classification.
Often your questions can be addressed informally at this level.

City of Duluth Assessor’s Office
Room 108, City Hall
411 West First Street
Duluth, MN 55802
Phone: 218-730-5190

Second, Appeal to the Local Board of Appeal and Equalization

Meeting in mid-May, this board is made up of real estate professionals. You may appear before the board in person, via a representative authorized by you, or by letter. You MUST call the City Assessor’s Office ahead of time to schedule an appointment with the board. (The assessor schedules the date, time, place and order of the board’s agenda.) Your appeal must be on the agenda of the Local Board of Appeal and Equalization BEFORE you can go on to the next step: the County Board of Appeal and Equalization.

To schedule an appointment with the Local Board of Appeal and Equalization, write or call:

City of Duluth Assessor’s Office
Room 108, City Hall
411 West First Street
Duluth, MN 55802
Phone: 218-730-5190

Third, Appeal to the County Board of Appeal and Equalization

Appearance before this board is limited to those who appeared before the Local Board of Appeal and Equalization but did not agree with the board’s decision. Meeting in mid-June, this board is made up of real estate professionals. You may appear before the board in person, via a representative authorized by you, or by letter. You MUST call the Clerk of the County Board ahead of time to schedule an appointment with the board. See the notice you receive in April for contact information. Once this board adjourns in late June, the only remaining means of appeal is tax court. The assessor’s value is not up for review 365 days a year.

Fourth, Appeal to Tax Court

Regardless of whether you appear before the Local and County Boards of Appeal and Equalization, you may always appeal directly to the SMALL CLAIMS DIVISION of Tax Court under the following conditions:

A. The assessed value in dispute is less than $300,000; or

B. The entire parcel is classified as a residential homestead and the parcel contains no more than
one dwelling unit; or

C. The entire property is classified as an agricultural homestead; or

D. You are appealing the denial of a current year application for homestead classification of your
property; or

E. Any other case in which the amount in controversy does not exceed $5,000 including penalty
and interest.

Regardless of your property type or the nature of your claim, you always have the option to file directly with the REGULAR DIVISION of Tax Court.

For both the small claims and regular divisions, the deadline for filing is April 30 of the year the tax is due. The
contact information is:

Minnesota Tax Court
25 Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd.
Room 245
St. Paul, MN 55115

Phone: 651-296-2806
Web site: www.taxcourt.state.mn.us

Know how to calculate the property tax on my homestead project

People often want to know how to estimate the effect on property taxes of projects they are thinking of doing (new garage, addition, decks, etc.). For homesteaded property, you can do an easy ballpark estimation using the following formula:

Value the project will add to the home x .01 x the local tax rate.

For instance, if building a garage that will add $17,000 to the assessed value of the property, the ballpark estimated property tax paid in 2008 is:

$17,000 x .01 x 1.09647 = $186 (rounded)

For most homes in Duluth this estimate is nominally high because it does not take into account a possible homestead credit that could apply. Calculating that number is a lot more complicated, and it is not worth doing for the purpose of ballpark estimating. (See “I want to know how the homestead credit works” on this web site.)

Know how to find out if there is a lien on a property

A lien on real estate must be recorded with the St. Louis County Recorder’s Office. You will find a link to their web site at www.co.st-louis.mn.us

Know how to get data compilations

While just about all the data collected by the assessor is public information, the assessor has no obligation to offer and deliver data free of charge in every custom-designed compilation that city residents can think of.

One may always walk into the assessor’s office and look up individual sales or assessment data on individual parcels at no charge. On a one-item-at-a-time basis, users will find some data accessible via paper records, other data accessible via a public terminal, and yet other data available via the assessor’s web site.

However, for large data compilations (say, all sales of homesteaded single family residences within the last two years) displaying information specified by the user, the assessor must identify the locale of the requested data within some two dozen electronic files, link the desired files, query them, and then dump the results into a format that is printable and can be attached to an e-mail. This requires time and effort, and there are fees for such data compilation requests. Query fees range from $50 for a request that can be met with a pre-existing query to $250 (or more depending upon amount of data) for a request that requires writing a new query.

There is some data compilation available to subscribing members of the assessor’s web site. Most notably,
there is a downloadable spreadsheet file of city land sales going back to 2004 that is updated weekly. Contact
the city assessor for membership application information.

Know how to get survey information on my property

The City of Duluth Assessor’s Office is not a depository of survey documents. Our plat maps display frontages and depths but not necessarily known survey points from which the plat survey began. And the majority of our metes and bounds legal descriptions are not from maps but rather from deeds found acceptable by the County Recorder and posted to St. Louis County’s computerized tax system. We also employ automated calculations offered by a GIS parcel layer where available.

No data available in the City of Duluth Assessor’s Office can be used to calculate appropriate locations for new construction of buildings, fences, driveways, and so on.

For survey data within the City of Duluth, contact the City of Duluth Engineering Office at http://www.duluthmn.gov/engineering/

Know how to homestead my property

To qualify for homestead, you must meet both of the following requirements:

A. Must be owner of the home or a qualifying relative of the owner of the home.

B. Must occupy the property as your primary residence and be a Minnesota resident.

It is important to understand that part of the advantage of homesteading in Minnesota involves a tax credit that comes out of the state’s budget. The state takes fraudulent homesteads very seriously.

To apply for homestead:

A. If you are a new recorded owner of a qualifying property, the City Assessor’s Office will mail you instructions regarding how to apply. The time you acquire the property has an effect on the
application time line.

B. If you are an unrecorded owner of the property, you will need to file a Certificate of Real Estate Value form with the St. Louis County Auditor’s Office and bring a copy of your deed into the City of Duluth Assessor’s Office. We cannot grant homesteads to someone who is not identified as the owner of the property in the St. Louis County Auditor’s tax file.

If you move:

A. If at any time you sell your homesteaded property or change your primary residence, state law requires you to notify the City of Duluth Assessor’s Office within 30 days of the sale or move.

B. If you fail to notify the assessor within 30 days, you will be required to pay the tax which is due on the property based on its correct property class plus a penalty.

Know how to identify an Appraiser from the City Assessor's Office

Every year the City Assessor’s web site will identify those areas of the city due for reinspection and revaluation. In addition, appraisers will be wearing identification tags with photo and carrying business cards. When an appraiser is at your door, you may call the City Assessor’s Office immediately at 730-5190 and ask for confirmation that the appraiser should be working in your neighborhood. Alternatively, you may set a later inspection date with the appraiser at your door and then confirm with the City Assessor’s Office that the appraiser should be working in your neighborhood.

Should you not be home when the appraiser arrives, he will conduct an outside inspection only and leave a card on a door identifying his having been there, his name, and a contact number.

Know how to split and/or combine parcels

The splitting of a parcel into multiple parcels or the combining of multiple parcels into a lesser number is accomplished at the St. Louis County Auditor’s office www.co.st-louis.mn.us

The City of Duluth Assessor’s Office classifies and values newly created or altered parcels AFTER the fact. The Assessor’s Office is where the split or combination process ends, not where it begins.

Know how to update taxpayer names

The taxpayer name(s) displayed on this web site are read from files in the computerized tax system maintained by St. Louis County. The City of Duluth Assessor’s Office has no authority or access to make changes to the taxpayer name file.

Questions or requests related to taxpayer names should be addressed to the St. Louis County Auditor’s Office. You will find them in the phone book or at www.co.st-louis.mn.us

The City of Duluth Assessor’s Office does maintain the property address file. Click on “Comments” to e-mail us property address corrections.

Know how to update title holder names

The title holder name(s) displayed on this web site are read from files in the computerized tax system maintained by St. Louis County. The City of Duluth Assessor’s Office has no authority or access to make changes to the title holder file.

Questions or requests related to title holder names should be addressed to the St. Louis County Recorder’s Office. You will find them in the phone book or at www.co.st-louis.mn.us

The City of Duluth Assessor’s Office does maintain the property address file. Click on “Comments” to e-mail us property address corrections.

Know if I have to let the Assessor onto my property

Either by contact prior to or during the inspection, you may deny the assessor access to your home, in which case he would do an inspection from the outside only. You may even ask the assessor to leave the property entirely. You are not required to allow the assessor access to your property.

Despite denial of access to the property, the assessor is required to value the property for property tax purposes. So a value will be assessed to all properties, access allowed or not.

For those considering denying the assessor access, be aware that legislation that allows taxpayers to deny the assessor access also prohibits the city and county boards of appeal and equalization from changing the assessed value of any property for which the appellant denied the assessor access to inspect. You cannot refuse to let the assessor inspect and then argue that the assessor got the value wrong. Appellants looking for relief must allow inspection of the property by the assessor.

Know the time relationship between the assessment and the budget

Though not as interesting as those “the government has aliens in captivity” conspiracy theories, one of the popular theories related to the assessment of a city’s tax base is that the mayor sends the assessor out to increase values whenever the city needs more money.

One of the realities that the conspiracy buffs want to overlook is the fact that each year the assessor determines the taxable value of the city about six months BEFORE the budget is finalized.

Below is the assessment and budget timeline for Tax and Budget Year 2009 as an example:

Mid-May 2007: Assessor begins inspecting a fraction, not all, of the 40,000+ taxable parcels in the city for the January 2, 2008 assessment for taxes to be paid in 2009

Dec. 07 – Feb. 08: Assessor calculates estimated market values of all inspected parcels.

Mid-March 2008: Assessor posts values of the inspected parcels plus posts city-wide value changes if out of Department of Revenue compliance with the assessment to sale price ratio standard for
any or all of several classes of property.

April 1, 2008: Send Department of Revenue a report of the city’s taxable and exempt values for the January 2, 2008 assessment, broken down into many, many study classes.

May – June 2008: Post changes to appealed values approved by the Local and County Boards of Appeal & Equalization. Report changes to the Department of Revenue.

July 1, 2008: Estimated market values for taxes to be paid in 2009 are final except for corrections of indisputable clerical errors.

August 2008: Writing of the 2009 city budget begins in earnest.

December 2008: 2009 city budget is finalized.

In addition, the Department of Revenue assessment to sale price ratio standards do not allow over-assessment on a city-wide basis (defined as median assessment to sale price ratio is greater than 105% in any study class). If the assessor does not correct the assessment to lower the ratio to acceptable standards by mid-March 2008, the State Board of Equalization will order a change during its annual meeting in early June. The D.O.R. audits the assessment level annually. No city administration can control the assessment, as it is public information and subject to annual D.O.R. auditing and change orders.

Know what market value is

Market value is “the most probable price as of a specified date, in cash, or in terms equivalent to cash, or in other precisely revealed terms, for which the specified property rights should sell after reasonable exposure in a competitive market under all conditions requisite to a fair sale, with the buyer and seller each acting prudently, knowledgeably, and for self-interest, and assuming that neither is under duress.” The Appraisal of Real Estate, Eleventh Edition, 1996, Appraisal Institute, Chicago, Illinois, pg. 22.

By state law, the exact assessment date is January 2 of each year. By approximately mid-May, the assessor begins working to estimate the market value of real estate for the following January 2. The assessor gathers contemporary sales that meet Department of Revenue standards for open-market, arm’s-length transactions, and analyzes the physical, functional, and economic characteristics and features of the land and any improvements to it to find market units of comparison to aid in the valuation of all properties. Such market units of comparison include location, size, age, construction quality, number of baths, and so on.

The Department of Revenue audits the assessor’s level of assessment each year by grouping valid sales (all residential sales, for instance) within a particular 12-month time period and comparing the assessed value of each valid sale against the actual sale price. The result for each sale is known as the assessment to sale price ratio. For example, a home that is assessed at $85,000 and sells for $100,000 has an assessment to sale price ratio of 85 percent. The Department of Revenue annually arrays all the ratios low to high and declares the median (middle) ratio to be indicative of the quality of the assessment. A median ratio within the 90% to 105% range is considered acceptable. Any thing above or below the range must be adjusted via city-wide value decreases or increases to the subject study group.

Know what parts of town are being inspected and revalued this year

State law requires the assessor to periodically inspect each parcel within the city. This is accomplished over time by inspecting select portions of the city each and every year. The inspection cycle for the City of Duluth Assessor’s Office begins each July and concludes in December. The inspections that begin in July 2010 are for the 2011 assessment year for taxes payable in 2012. Most new construction will be inspected in January and February 2011 as the official date of the 2011 assessment is January 1. Any value and/or classification changes resulting from those inspections must be calculated and reported to the St. Louis County Auditor by mid-March 2011.

There are thousands of affected parcels, therefore the appraisers will go door to door and request permission to enter and conduct the inspection. The inspecting appraiser can be identified by their City of Duluth photo identification tag. If the owner is not there, the appraiser will leave a card on the door indicating that he/she was there. The owner will be instructed to contact the appraiser for a follow-up visit.

For the 2011 assessment year, for which taxes will be paid in 2012, the following areas of the city will be inspected and revalued. Because of the irregular shape of many plats, some parcels will fall in or out of the following geographic boundaries and may not be part of the rest of the group that is inspected for the 2011 assessment.

Appraiser Gregg Swartwoudt’s Area(s)

Residential parcels in Upper Lincoln Park above Third or Fourth Street depending upon his progress over the summer and fall months.

Appraiser Scott Sutherland’s Area(s)

Residential parcels in that part of Duluth Heights east of Robin Avenue, north of Central Entrance, west of Skyline Parkway, and south of Arrowhead Road to Rice Lake Road then south of Aspenwood and the College of Saint Scholastica.

Appraiser Jolene Elm’s Area(s)

Continued inspection of residential parcels in Lakeside/Lester Park north of Glenwood with the exception of Avondale, Oakley and the west segment of Norwood Streets; and all properties south of Glenwood Street to the north side of London Road beginning with 54^th Avenue East and going eastward.

Appraiser Mike Busick’s Area(s)

Completion of residential parcels in Morgan Park, then east to Smithville, Riverside, Norton Park, Spirit Cove and properties accessible from Skyline Drive.

Appraiser Terry Johnson’s Area(s)

London Road commercial from 10^th Avenue East up to 21^st Avenue East, Riverside neighborhood commercial, Hallet Dock area and cell towers.

If you desire an inspection of your property by appointment, please contact our office at 730-5190 and reference the name of the appraiser for your neighborhood.

Know what the Assessor does

Substantial portions of State of Minnesota Statutes 270, 272, and 273 describe the duties of a Minnesota Assessor, who may assess a township or two, a city, or part or all of a county. Although the City of Duluth is within St. Louis County, which has an assessor, Duluth and numerous other cities and townships within the county have their own assessors.

In brief, the assessor’s two primary duties are to classify and value real estate for property tax purposes.

Property classes are created and defined by the legislature and have various tax rates that cause some types of property to pay more tax per dollar of assessed value than other types of property. The assessor follows the law and Department of Revenue interpretations in the classification of property. Because cities have substantial zoning laws and enforcement, most classification reflects actual use as most properties are in compliance with local zoning.

Property values reflect local markets as all real estate transactions involving $1000 or more are reported to the assessor. The assessor takes land and building characteristics observed during inspections, codes them into a computer assisted mass appraisal (CAMA) valuation model calibrated against local sales, and reconciles the model generated value with his experience and knowledge of the market to arrive at an estimated market value for property tax purposes.

There are myriad other responsibilities assigned to the Assessor’s Office, but in the majority they support or are a consequence of the two primary duties of classification and valuation.

Know who collects property related special assessments and taxes

In Minnesota, the checks and balances philosophy requires that the Assessor’s Office be completely separated from tax collection.

Special assessments generated by the City of Duluth are collected by the City Treasurer’s Office.

Payments for storm water utility are collected by Comfort Systems.

Property taxes are billed and collected by the St. Louis County Auditor.

At some point in time, the property tax bill would also include any delinquent special assessment, storm water utility and garbage balances due, as such liabilities eventually become liens against the property.

The City of Duluth Assessor’s Office does not collect any taxes or payments related to special assessments, storm water utility and delinquent garbage bills.

Know who the City Appraisers are and what are their credentials

Appraisers employed by the City of Duluth Assessor’s Office are trained by the professional organization for Minnesota assessors, the Minnesota Association of Assessing Officers, and licensed by the Minnesota State Board of Assessors after two years of successful course completion and working within the City Assessor’s Office. Thereafter, licensed appraisers must successfully complete 40 to 50 hours of continuing education every four years for the duration of their careers. Other contributors to assessor education are the International Association of Assessing Officers, the Minnesota Department of Revenue, and the Appraisal Institute.

Know why my assessed value can change without an inspection

The State of Minnesota requires that all taxable parcels be inspected by the assessor once every five years.

However, the level of assessment within the city is subject to a mandated audit and correction annually. The Department of Revenue (D.O.R.) performs the audit, measuring the quality of the city’s assessment with the median assessment to sale price ratio for various categories of real estate during a twelve month period. For the City of Duluth, the three categories that normally have enough sales to perform the audit are (1) land improved with residential and seasonal homes, (2) land improved with apartments, and (3) land improved with commercial and industrial buildings.

In each category, the D.O.R. takes each valid sale and divides the sale price by the assessed value. For instance, a home assessed at $150,000 and sold for $167,000 has an assessment that is 89.8% of the sale price. All the sales in the category are arrayed from high to low assessment to sale price ratio, and the median ratio is identified and declared to be a sign of the quality of the assessment.

The D.O.R. defines an acceptable assessment as having a median assessment to sale price ratio that falls within the range of 90% to 105%. If the median ratio is below 90%, the assessor must apply a percentage increase to most or all of the like properties in the city to get the ratio back up to the acceptable range. If the median ratio is above 105%, the assessor must apply a percentage decrease.

If the assessor does not act to cause his assessment to meet D.O.R. standards, the State Board of Equalization meets in early June and would order the necessary increase/decrease. When the assessor applies the change, taxpayers get notified of the new value and can appeal to local and county appeal boards. When the State orders the change, no notification is sent and by the time the taxpayer gets his tax bill with the new value, the only appeal avenue left is a petition before the Tax Court.