•Board of Equalization set for county property on June 12

By Melanie Stegner

news@pctribune.com

Pope County Assessor Mike Wacker addressed the board of commissioners at last week’s meeting to go over market value changes from the past year and to give an overview of Department of Revenue time trends and how they affect the values that are set countywide prior to the County Board of Appeal and Equalization taking place on June 12.

As of March 15, 2023, land values were up in the county by $371,251,200. According to Wacker the state-mandated time frame that qualified sales are compiled and studied runs from October 1, 2021, to September 30, 2022. From the qualified sales data it is determined if any market changes have occurred. “Remember a qualified sale is between a willing buyer and willing seller both acting in their best interests. After the verification is done on every sale, they are grouped into similar property types, uses and classifications and then determined what the market changes are,” he stated.

Wacker’s report stated that after the study, “we determine whether or not we are compliant with the legislative rules that state the median ratio should be within the 90 percent to 105 percent range. If the median ratio falls outside the range, we have to adjust our market values up or down,” Wacker explained;

“There are a lot of variables that affect the amount of taxes you pay, one of those is value. Others that affect the taxes are classification, local tax rates, legislative changes and what other classification type value changes are,” he said. “After the dramatic value increase we had in the residential market last year, we still see a couple of areas that needed value increase of 20 to 30 percent to be compliant,” he added.

The report shows that in all but two categories, the county is not in compliance with state legislation and is below the 90 percent mark. 

Commissioners went on to discuss the finalization of the Baker Tilly Compensation and Classification Study. The process included evaluating the compensation of county positions in relationship to the market and to analyze the internal equity between positions within the county.

Employees were asked to complete a questionnaire that gave the company the information needed to analyze and update the county’s job descriptions, to collect market survey data and to evaluate the relationships of positions within the county.

Baker Tilly presented Pope County with a proposed wage schedule and revised job descriptions for review. Employees and department heads were given the ability to appeal their revised job descriptions if they felt it did not accurately reflect their job duties. Several did so and the resulting job descriptions were negotiated until they were satisfied with the results.

“We experienced significant complications with the vendor as they experienced staff turn-over and related challenges which greatly delayed the process of completing the study,” said Jackie Stevens, Pope County HR Director. The revised wage schedule will be presented at the next board of commissioners meeting on May 16, it was stated.

County Administrator Kersten Kappmeyer presented a memo received by his office from the Association of Minnesota Counties regarding information about an opportunity that was developed to establish the National Center for Public Lands to create an enhanced opportunity to demonstrate how prosperous public lands counties create a prosperous America. A brief discussion followed review of the letter and the meeting was adjourned.