Area Delegation Among 160 At Green Bay Revenue Meet

Despite extremely hostile weather conditions, over 160 persons from northeast Wisconsin, including a delegation from Marinette County, attended a Wisconsin Department of Revenue “town hall” meeting on the NWTC campus in Green Bay Thursday afternoon, Jan. 7. Most of them came to voice objections to a proposed new county-based property tax assessment for Wisconsin that many speakers said will add tremendously to the cost of property tax assessing.

There were estimates that annual assessing costs will rise from an average of $10 per parcel to $30 or more per parcel if the Department of Revenue proposal is enacted in its present form. In Marinette County there are 60,000 tax parcels.

Department of Revenue Secretary Roger M. Ervin and several members of the state DOR office were present to explain the proposed law and field questions related to it.

Currently each of the 1,851 municipalities in Wisconsin is responsible for its own property assessments. With perhaps a few exceptions, each has its own assessor and its own Board of Review to hear grievances of property owners who feel they have been unfairly assessed.

Under the DOR proposal, after a 5-year phase-in program, each county would be responsible for annually updating values for each property in Wisconsin, and would have the option of employing individuals to be responsible for the assessment function as county staff or contracting for such services. Wisconsin will automate the collection and analysis of assessment data to allow full integration of information across counties and municipalities. Each county would have a single board of review process to evaluate assessment disputes at the county level. The five Board of Review members would be appointed by the County Board chair, so some municipalities would have representation and some would not.

Assessors would be held to stricter requirements and assessing standards as specified by law.

Argued as benefits of the new system are that valuation information would be available earlier in the year, there would be economies of scale and pooling of resources, more fair assessments, property taxes and aid distributions, consistent levels of assessment across the state, and greater transparency in the assessment and appeals process.

Apparently in recognition of the added costs the new assessing system would entail, the proposal is to exempt county assessment costs from local levy limits, which means the costs can be passed along directly to property tax payers.

Wisconsin Towns Association (WTA) has formally voiced objections to the Department of Revenue proposal, and the Marinette County WTA unit at a recent meeting unanimously supported a strongly worded statement against it.

The Marinette County contingent at the meeting included Marinette County Administrator Steve Corbeille; Land Information Administrator John LeFebvre, who will administer the new program if it becomes law, with Land Information Committee Chair Ted Sauve and committee members Jerry Pillath and Joe Policello.

At their meeting in December the Land Information Committee had discussed the DOR proposal and had little good to say about it. They instructed that a resolution opposing the plan be prepared, but agreed to take no formal position for or against the proposal until after the informational meeting with Ervin.

The resolution was on the agenda for action at the committee meeting Wednesday morning, Jan. 13, and information at the Green Bay meeting had done nothing to make committee members or county officials view the proposal more favorably. Committee approval of a resolution opposing the DOR county assessment proposal was imminent as the Times went to press. It will now go on for County Board action on Tuesday, Jan. 26.

The resolution gives several reasons for opposition, and concludes: “The Marinette County Board of Supervisors does hereby oppose the implementation of county assessment in Wisconsin.

“Further be it resolved that the State of Wisconsin, local governments, and other stakeholders should study what changes, if any, are found necessary, and determine how they can be implemented to improve municipal assessment practices without necessarily eliminating the current system.

The County Clerk is to be directed to send copies to Governor James Doyle, Evers, members of the Marinette County State legislative delegation, and Wisconsin Counties Association.

Among speakers at the Green Bay meeting was Karen Sylvester, a former Town of Peshtigo supervisor and retired head of the Marinette County Property Tax Listing Department. She spoke about some of the problems she had encountered with the current system, and appeared to neither favor nor oppose the proposed changes. Sylvester suggested perhaps there is not enough attention given to licensing and qualifications of assessors, and said some assessors perhaps are not educated enough. The DOR apparently has not been enforcing standards that already exist.

One of the speakers came from a city divided between four counties. Under the DOR proposal, the city would be divided into four different taxing districts. They already have a full time assessor who assesses the entire city. At present there are no proposed exceptions for this type situation.

Pillath said one man who came from across the state objected to what he referred to as “another unfunded mandate from the state.”

Pillath, who serves as assessor for the city of Peshtigo and towns of Peshtigo and Beaver and is also a member of Marinette County Board and Coleman School Board, spoke strongly against the proposal.

In a prepared statement presented at the meeting, he explained his elected and appointed positions, and declared:

“As an elected official I have become familiar with the importance of local control and input of town, village and city government.

“My first concern with your proposal is the loss of that local control and input that will result if your legislation presented this afternoon becomes law. Providing and overseeing assessment services is an important responsibility that is in most cases done well by our towns, cities and villages. According to your proposed legislation our county’s 25 municipalities only input would be through 5 board of review members appointed by the county board chair,” Pillath declared.

He went on, “Your proposal erroneously compares Wisconsin to a majority of states that do not have the option to assess by township because there are only 20 states that have town government. Wisconsin patterned our town government after the New England states. And we have the most townships on your map only because we are the largest state with townships. Perhaps if some of these states had the option, they would follow Wisconsin’s example.

Pillath said Marinette County’s system of assessment is not broken and does not need to be fixed. He said assessment data is computerized in 20 of the county’s 25 municipalities and many already provide assessment data directly online. Marinette County’s website also provides assessment parcel detail online.

“Most of our municipalities are assessed by firms that already see economies of scale by assessing much more than one municipality,” Pillath continued.

He noted the City of Peshtigo and the Town of Beaver had adopted resolutions opposing Ervin’s proposal and “ they have requested that I represent their opposition to you. I have the City of Peshtigo’s Resolution for you with me today. The towns of Wausaukee and Little River are also opposed to it.”

“Published reports suggest that cost of your proposal could be in excess of $30 per parcel,” Pillath concluded. “Our annualized per parcel cost to Marinette County residents is probably below $10 per parcel. There are approximately 60,000 parcels in our county. Your proposal would add approximately $1.2 million dollars directly to the property tax bill of Marinette County taxpayers who are already overwhelmed by this economy and are already losing their homes by foreclosure. WISCONSIN TAXPAYERS DON’T NEED MORE TAXES !!!!!!”

While there apparently is a law ready and waiting to be passed, Pillath said in the course of discussion at the Green Bay meeting, Secretary Ervin offered some possible variations. He suggested instead of just basing assessments with the 72 counties, they could perhaps get it down to 250 taxing jurisdictions, or perhaps limit the assessing jurisdiction to no less than 7 percent of the equalized value of the county.

Pillath remained opposed to the county-based assessing proposals, with or without any of the changes offered by Ervin.

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