okay Good afternoon I'd like to call to order the local board of appeals and equalization meeting uh Friday April 18th 2025 at 1:00 p.m The local board of appeals and equalization meeting is held to provide a fair and objective forum
for property owners to appeal their property values or classifications It is important to note that this meeting is held to discuss the 2025 assessment values and classifications only No property tax or previous year's
valuations can be considered at this meeting Decisions will be adopted by a formal vote of the council Options available to the board for this vote include no change lower the value for which case the city value cannot be
reduced more than 1% of the city's total valuation raise the value change the classification or have the assessor inspect the property and report to the local board within 20 days Appellants with appointments set ahead of time will
be heard first today and then it will be a first come first serve as you signed up um today on the sign-in sheet When your name is called um if you can please come to either the podium there or the desk there and speak clearly into the microphone Just make sure the microphone
is turned on There's just a little button here So make sure that that's green Um and state your name and address for the record and then you will have around five minutes to explain your situation County staff will then provide additional information to the board
present today and then the board will make a decision Um are there any questions before we get started okay seeing none um we'll turn this over to county staff Thank you mayor Uh just a couple of things what happened with your city before you take
your first appeal Uh the city of Nisa had 31 improved uh residential seasonal properties that sold uh in our time uh sales ratio studies time period Um after we made all these adjustments like uh
Gull Lake went up $1,900 a foot Um lower Cullen um up like $1,100 a foot Some really big increases to some um areas of the city Um our median sale ratio is 97.2% 2% And what that means is for
every sale that occurs we take our assessed value and we compare it to what uh somebody paid for the property Um so you get that and you get this ratio And by state statute we are mandated to be between 90 and
105% on that median sale ratio Um and after all these adjustments that we'll be talking about today we're at 97% So what that tells us um some statistical people like um us from the county is that the vast majority of properties in
the city of Niswah um are not over assessed Uh we're probably on the conservative side of what somebody could have uh sold their property for as of January 2nd Um I know not a lot of people like to hear somebody like me say that but um that is what the data is um
supporting Uh the other thing to note real quick is just a breakdown of your city how it's comprised from a value standpoint So the sheet in front of you with the pie chart just kind of represents that you'll see that um the overall about 52% of this
city is residential Um 38 almost 39% is seasonal property and about 8% or almost 9% commercial and just just a little bit of rural vacant land or managed forest in the city Um so overall um the city
went up about 13% in in market value Um and ended up at uh 1.4 billion in estimated market value Um any questions from the council before you take your first appeal sure Would do that Otherwise um we do have one appointment
that'll start Is it for us to ask a question or just for you guys i didn't know I I think it's probably they haven't been too strict in the past It's probably okay to just a ask questions I'm assuming you can you can ask a question Yeah you can ask a question if you can just state
your name Kim Clucas And I was just wondering you mentioned Gull Lake and Lower Cullen Lake Are those the only two lakes that had the increases or were those just two examples those are just two examples Okay Uh 2 4 6 8 10 12 different lakes that had increases this
year in the city of Nissan Uh and 12 lakes out of how many um 13 Oh so one lake didn't Okay Yeah Lake that was bass over on Nashway Did not see an
increase In increase on Clark Lake was $300 a foot So they're sitting at 3,700 a foot So if you have 100footer that's 370,000 in land value before we look at any improvement value
You said 370 30 uh 3,700 Oh 3,700 Yeah In comparison Gull Lake currently is at 11,000 a foot So that's 1.1 million for 100 foot lot on on goal Okay Does anyone else have questions
otherwise we can start Oh I'm sorry Uh my name is Gary Griffin on the land services director Um with that comes a few hats One of the hats is county assessor here uh for uh Crowing County These three over here are um um
land services staff And again uh like the mayor had said earlier we're here to just provide any information the council needs Ask question or answer questions from concerned citizens too All decisions will be adopted by formal vote
from the city So it's all their decision today We're here really just to say why or how um to help explain and then uh they will make their determination if it's fair equitable or you know did we
miss the mark and they want to make some changes comes typically assuming somebody Yes they are We have a policy internal policy that uh they're required to leave notification they were on your property And if that didn't happen I sure would
love u to speak with you after um and just kind of dig into that because we pride ourselves on being uh transparent open you know about hey what what we need to do or why we're doing what we're doing Yeah
I assume it must be Okay Seeing no more we would move the first person would be Shirley Peterson And if it's all right Shirley I'll just start with this properties on uh the piece of property You're more concerned about the little 8ft strip I'm
assuming on Roy Lake Yes sir Uh down uh and I'm really speaking for all three of us There's three property owners that are involved in that Okay Just for a location where the property is for the council I'm Shirley Peterson
I live at uh 4272 Upper Roy Lake Road thankful to get a Niswah newsletter in my mailbox recently and our mayor made a comment on our vision for Nisa Our goal for Nisa is
simple Protect individual rights reduce government overreach keep taxes low etc So don't ever quit having these meetings It's very important you know us better
and you care more about us than the county does Okay All right Three people property owners have those little pieces of land on Roy We live on Edna on the other side That's where the main property is I was
here three years ago in 22 in April and at the time um you recommended and they and went with it from they tried to raise it to 6500
um and we kept it at 4500 and it stayed the same 23 and 24 for this year I goofed I really blew it because whenever that statement came in the mail in the fall or sometime
before December I stuck it away so I wouldn't lose it but I never opened it till toward the end of January and I was shocked Do you guys have the numbers no you don't They're up on in the in the
screen Okay And I can read them to you See that her value last well because I missed the um December meeting I got stuck with that number for this year which went
from 4,500 to what sir 36,000 something And this year they want to up it for the next time to 49400 We're talking about 8 feet ashore
8 ft And I told uh everyone some of you maybe remember when I was here in uh 22 I was the only one here I think at that time more than one It's not even I don't even put a dock out there Not that I
can't I guess but it's uh pretty crowded I'm the middle property So when they put docks on the sides I've always had good neighbors and they say "Feel free to use our docks." Pretty hard to squeeze another one in there I imagine when they
first got the uh properties settled that was enough to pull a canoe up on shore or something But the main property is what the value of that little piece goes with Um wanting to raise it again I just I
think it's so ridiculous Like I say I when I opened that letter in January and had blown the meeting I didn't know whether I should laugh or cry It was so ridiculous And the other land owners on each side of me they agree that it's
hard to believe So yes can you bring it back to 4500 maybe not but it's a little bit ridiculous what they're recommending And I thank the governor
and the mayor again that we're working on individual rights reducing that government overreach and keeping taxes low and you guys care about us more than they do I don't think the other two members were here in 22 when this came
up So we came to the conclusion a couple of things one that the property I mean even combined what is it 24 feet wide with the three pieces the three of them and that's another question I had is that
strip is it like 25 ft does that stay 25 ft all to the road because some of you know we've got that new um gated area that came in in the last couple years and I don't know if they're
infringing on that 25 ft or not But but I think the conclusion that I'm going to interrupt but I think the conclusion that the that the council members came to was the fact that one it wasn't buildable Two um you really couldn't put a dock at the end of it into the into uh
into the lake because it pretty crowded wasn't there So that's when we said keep it at the 4500 I mean that would be um my recommendation is to keep it at that I remember when I was here someone from the county even said either mistakenly
or they were grossly in error that one of my neighbors had stole that little piece for like 12,000 or something back then And that would never happen The value of those little pieces go with the main property on the other side of the road Right So I mean I would recommend
to keep it at the the the what it was set before if that can be done Um that's just my recommendation Sure If if I could just uh help uh why the value is at almost 50,000 Uh when that happened a few years
ago we hadn't had any sales up there and it was debatable how valuable is access on Roy and how much can it contribute to the lots that are across the road that own them her neighbor did sell in 2022 and has sold for 700
695,000 So that neighboring property even with we're treating them all the same with the $50,000 access to Roy on the other side We're at $515,000 today but two years ago it sold for 700,000 We believe that it does have a lot more
value than what the city council concluded three years ago because now we have real evidence not any hypotheticals Can you do a dock not do a dock somebody paid a lot of money way more money than we have on the property right next door
And that is what triggered us to go you know what we need to relook at these three pieces because they paid a lot more than what we had valued on But our job our job was to treat everybody equally not you know um react to what people are buying and selling property
for That's that's why we did it But to Mark's point could we go back to the value it yes we could go back to 45 Right Absolutely Because the challenge with you know when you Right I get what you're saying It sold for this and the assessed value but what you're do what
you're doing is it's we're taxing people out of living here And a lot of people and I will include my parents who are in Crowing on Round Lake off of Ojiua that worked their entire lives to build this home to retire in and they're now on social security almost 80 and they're
getting taxed out of it and and we don't want this community especially in Nisa to become one where no one can afford to live here Sure And so I hear what you're saying but I in general I just inherently feel the government is always trying to reach in and take from people
And if we can make a motion to allow them to go back to the 4500 I am all in favor of making that motion And I would support that My property's been in our family since at least back in the 60s And one neighbor might have been even longer than that If if I can just uh and
by all means it's all your power today If you reduce hers by 45,000 it helps her taxes Now everybody in this audience including the folks up here you just increased your own because taxes aren't going to go down because of of this Somebody else is going to pay
Taxes were decided on how much spending the city the county and the school need not the value Well the value should be and treat everybody fairly because we we valued everybody here on what we believe they can sell their property for So to
reduce something based off of well we don't want that tax to go up You just shifted tax to somebody else You didn't lower it You shifted it Why did the value on my main property go down and the little one go up because because we
believe the 4500 was extremely too low for what it actually is bringing with a sale that just occurred I think what she asked was why did her main property across the road from there go down in valuation um
that doesn't make sense because it's that little piece that makes it more valuable Me personally I'm willing to spread the few thousand dollars that that would to spread it across the city straight away I agree with the mayor
that yeah we're trying to I saw this happen you know 60s and 70s where people that had been here for a long time generationally that they got taxed out of their property And I don't want to see that happen And it's it's it's starting to happen again I I understand
you know how you guys do things but this little strip of land these little three pieces strip of land I think we can not increase it And if I've got to pay a few a little bit more on my property taxes I'm fine
with that But are you are you saying if we lower hers that everybody's going to get a new property tax bill and their taxes are all going to go up no what I'm saying is when we calculate taxes next year because you were going to Oh next year Next year This is all for next year Yeah Okay Y it gets distributed right
well maybe you guys should cut taxes and we have no control on taxes We're just But we do this with so we can take our approach here I maybe I guess I got a question for this and and um maybe this is a bigger topic than this little
scenarios little strips pieces of land like this that are nonconforming And this may be you know something for you to think about too Uh particular on Roy Lake there's not great access for snowmobile wintertime stuff like that
you know for the property owners and and tax value and stuff Um I wonder if discussions could happen between the land owners and the county or something you know and do uh you know give it to the county give it to the DNR for uh for
a public access point you know snowmobiles It it relates well it would relieve any of these future tax burdens on your end Um as far as it goes all of that stuff is very nonconforming
um as far as any of the rules go you know like we say for docks for buildings and stuff like that And it and uh it would clean up um clean up these sort of hassles plus maybe give um access to
that lake I say that because you know then it it really does kind of put the burden on the homeowner It's like oh no we don't are we going to give that up do we want to sell it you know then we really
Nobody would sell those honey Well well that's what I'm saying So if people are saying "No I don't want to sell them." Then they do have value So and we don't want access because we don't want to be responsible for someone getting hurt on our propert I'm saying that that you would no longer own that You would you
would No no forget that That's what makes the other property valuable Ding ding ding Right there That's the thing Then it's got to have some value So so we can't say it has no value Oh no And then make that comment and say that it does because of the access point So I
agree We don't want the taxes go up but having access you know that allows somebody from you know a non you know from not being on the go lake chain to being on there to have access So um so I
I agree I think the price is a little bit high but there's definitely value there Sure You know and and you confirm that not separate from the other properties Oh perfect Yeah Doesn't really have that value on its own because that makes it looks like oh you
could sell it for that No nobody would sell it Yeah But that the accessibility is where the value is at It's not by itself you know So you know see where the main property would maybe go up a little bit
then but it didn't look It went down Yeah You know it's ridiculous on that little piece It just it doesn't make sense I I agree the value It's too high I agree that it that it's high
but it does bring value because of the accessibility especially for there And if I'm not mistaken on one of those lots there are docks and stuff put in there now Is that correct i know Right where that piece is I believe one of your neighbors do have docks I'm looking
again Is that the 25 ft it's 25 all the way to the road That's what we're showing on the map Yes it's the same width So I think somebody might want to check our wonderful new gated neighbor there too and see what they're doing
So in 20 so the 2024 value it went up to 365 correct no no no it stayed the same in 23 and 24 at 4500 and then for this year it jumped because
I missed the December meeting that the 2024 assessment for taxes payable in 2025 was $36,500 It went from that to the 494 for the 25 assessment taxes payable in 2026
The change came with proposed taxes for this year It and it shows right here too high It's too high It It's still great value Yeah Because it g it gives you access I know But you can't
you can't jump someone from 4500 to 50,000 in two years That's ridiculous I'm sorry Yeah Yeah That's the percentage of the jump is out of line It's way out of line But so so let me go back to 22 What that would have been in
increments What was the dollar amount 4500 and 22 No no no That's where it got negotiated back Does anybody know what that was i think it was it was 45 They wanted to go to 65 and you guys kept it down for us The 6,500 right
Yeah You know not a thousand I don't think it's the valuation is like you said that's a huge jump Um I'm not saying we have to go to 45 but we need to decrease it Um if we can go back to the numbers
of then at 6,500 I mean what how did it expect the value that sold with the other piece identical to this What would what were those number yep So the piece that um sold right next door to her for 7
695,000 uh that also has 49 for assessed Uh we're at $515,000 today on a $700,000 sale Um and here we're talking about lowering it So if the neighbor was here too they would
have purchased for 700 and you'd be saying "Let's take 40ome,000 off of their sale price and they just paid $200,000 more for it." That's what you would be saying to them But everybody here is valued and they're
going to pay tax on the sales of what happened in this one Mark is the valuation the same for my neighbors yeah I mean it I don't think the I think the 50,000's out of line but also but also to just keeping it always
at the 4500 you know it there's got to be it does it does have to go up with something that's fair and makes sense and 4500 to 50,000 that's too big of a jump But it does have great value I mean you said it
yourself Nobody would be willing to sell that or sell it give it away get rid of it No because it does add value to it Well then that's the plus Yeah Even if you have to go to the 6500 that we
bought the last time you know that would you know make sense or be acceptable in your brain you know but the jump from 4500 to 36,000 was ridiculous The front foot on Roy 8,000
per foot Yeah Yeah So I would say even meet in the middle or something would be a more fair thing I I I agree jumping it from 45 to 50 is out of line but also keeping the whole
thing at $4,500 That is also not accurate either because it does bring way more value to that property you know I mean at the time of sale um somebody with access to the Gal Lake chain is willing to pay way
more than $4,500 for that you know and so um they are but I feel like again it's you don't you can say what the value is but if you're not selling it or you're not moving it doesn't a value on paper
doesn't do any good I don't know Where are you thinking Joe i don't know I mean um you know like I we just figured somebody's making money somewhere but it's not the property owners No not unless you sell And some people plan to
retire where they live And it feels like you're penalized for if you've lived here too long you know Yeah I You guys can make a motion I'm not in favor of anything going over five figures for her Me either
So keep it under 10 because if she's already paying the 365 for 25 based on 24 then we're bringing her a savings in 26 over of those parcels in 22 cap at 45 like all
the neighbors Yes Yep Yes Because I asked them at that time do my neighbors have to contact you no We'll take care of all of them So this will be equal for all your neighbors That was in 22 Are they all currently assessed at the
same 50,000 right now yes Yes But there's only one change today unless they're in the audience or she has a paper or somebody that they have signed that they are being represented officially by them You guys don't have the authority to change any other ones
We just have for her Correct and well that's that's what we would need Yes it's going to be in writing if you can send it to land services Sure Let's give them yours Sandra so you can
get it Can you live with 9500 yeah I mean yeah Could you live with 9500 could you live with 9500 from 4500 to 9500 9,500 Yeah I agree Yeah Yeah we don't agree
with that But also too just keeping it at Right Right Yeah And would the county be opposed to her consolidating that just having one parcel for both well well that's what I asked You know with all these little slivers it'd make way more sense to
consolidate it group into one Yeah But yeah but that's where she said she didn't think anyone would be in favor of that I think she was think I I think what I heard was maybe she thought that she would need to sell that or something Would you be in favor of this little
sliver and your house across the road would just have one statement one notice it's all one value Would that make more sense moving forward yes What they what would happen is is if you're in favor they would take your
property your main property and then the sliver that's in there Shirley they would add that sliver the 8 foot wide section to your main property across the way So it would be under one Oh so they're not too Right Right So they're
not two One parcel right parcel Now she would have to go down to land services and and do that would she not yeah But then what if someone buys it after I die and they want to sell that little piece and make a big buck on that well I
actually I think and maybe Stephen like with ordinance and stuff too you know to sell off something like that you know um I think it does have to be consolidated because there's minimum lot widths and sizes So it would be the best to
consolidate together for zoning It kind of makes sense to me but I I hate to make a decision like that without family involved you know Do what you know Laya my wife Yeah we ended up doing that also because it just made
more sense Um we added in actually two pieces that were separated by that kind of a split and it worked out great for us Um well that way the little piece is always tied to it you know Correct Correct But if she but then what do my
neighbors have to make that decision right now on the fly right she I was just throwing that maybe that'll help in the you don't have to make that decision right now Okay we can do you guys that um if so if you want
to add that sliver to your main piece of property you'd have to go down to if I'm correct because what we had to do we had to go down to land services and do it Um I don't know if they can wave their magic wand and say yes it's done What
what do we can we settle anything today i can't make a decision like that by myself We we the a decision we can make today and you can ponder that talk to family and do it later you know before the end of this
year is we could I should go to the 9500 We could we could set a a valuation of of of going to 9500 for your sliver for 26 for 26 Yeah Yeah And then I have to remember to get to every meeting and
open my envelopes Yes I think I think that's the best way to leave it for now Okay I do I do So do you want to make a motion the rest is too complicated for my old Norwegian brain
So yeah I'll make a motion to to to lower the valuation of your sliver there to 9500 That's doable I'll second that Okay Any additional discussion the other additional discussion I have to say is is now if the other two property owners
there want to have the same thing well one they're not here We don't have there that it has to be in right writing though Okay So if that does come in Yep If theirs comes in then there
should be sit at the 9500 too The third person property owner I don't know who that is but they in order for them to do that they would have to have it also in writing to land services or or show up Yep Yep Now did that one come in yet
so this motion is just Yeah you'll take that one later when it does Okay So we have a motion in a second Any additional discussion okay I just need to understand for my neighbors what do I tell them this is just for your This is just for
yours This is just me Just Okay All those in favor of uh reducing this to 9500 signify by saying I I I Thank you Thank you Thank you ma'am Next up Brad Fleer Yep
Uh hi Brad Fleiner Uh my address is 5898 Nashway Road Niswah and uh I'm just here for your consideration um to adjust the market value uh on a
wooded lot that I own It's actually adjacent to my main property Um since I bought this home and and that property uh yeah the one highlighted there in mid 2021 the market values increased
182% in four or five years just under five years [Music] um to really kind of speed this along Uh there's three lots together there from
right to to the left of my lot My lot my neighbor's lot Yep Right there And then the next lot which uh the county actually purchased as part of the road improvement project And uh the market value on my neighbor's lot is currently
for the for next year is 24,100 and some dollars I think I can't read my own writing 24100 and that's28 acres The lot that the county bought
which is similar to the size of my lot is currently valued at $3,000 My uh market value is $49,100 So it's significantly higher than the other three They're unbuildable lots Uh the lake between the lake
setback and the road setback I can't put anything on that lot There's even a little bit of wet land on mine where the road used to drain into my lot There's a wetlands little wetlands there So there's nothing on it It's not
buildable Um the value of it it's it's kind of like similar before This is small dollars but when you retire you have more time to look at your personal finances And so I just would like it to be
equitable and fair is what I'm looking for What's the total acreage of that property it's a 31 acres So it's not even an acre Not even an acre And the valuation you said
was uh for next year it's 49,100 Uh last year I saw 70% increase and in 23 I saw a 45% increase on the market value of that lot
And I haven't done anything to it other than take brush out of it The neighbor just purchased his lot I believe last year And that's on round correct so it's not on round it's on bass It's on bass So the one that the county Yep Yep Is that where the
retention storm yeah Two over actually Yeah Yep They bought it for 55,000 Yeah Yep And by the way that whole project was great Those guys on site were great The county was great I wasn't happy with
every answer I got but I got answers I got them quick So you did a really good job So why would the county lot only be valued at 3,000 but then the other ones would be like 49,000 or Because you can't do anything with that other lot It's totally encumbered with storm water
pond It totally unusable Yeah Yeah Yep So what year did you purchase your home just a few years ago I think we moved in I want to say it was in July of 21 21 Yeah Yeah I mean you know at 385 You bought both lots I'm assuming at the
same time I did Yes And today we're at 435100 for for both lots So the appreciation over the last four years um we did the percentage on that
um while obviously we have two lots and we have to portion out where the land goes It doesn't seem out of line and maybe on the light side as far as what most of the folks in this has seen just for your consideration council Um it
boils down to can you sell it for 435,000 Um I totally get it looks weird that um the counties is only 3,000 but that's been physically altered and can never do anything but water is going to be running into the middle for you know
right in a time You say your neighbor's lot um a little bit more narrow but um I think they own the house across the road now Yes You place on Round Lake Yep Yeah Which I would have thought
What did I hear i I thought that it was had something to do with the valuation was tied to the valuation of a home on Round Lake which is not the valuation you're going to see out of a home that's just sitting on Little Bass Lake Correct Right No
Correct Yeah So but anyway I mean that's as much detail as I actually have but what I'm saying is I've seen significant increases here They're unusable lots The neighbor just bought the lot last year right next door to me and his market
value from the county for next year is half of what mine is And they're identical lots I mean if anything I would argue he's probably had a little nicer lot than I do Well I think I've been pretty
transparent on where I stand on everything I'm in favor of bringing it down if people are taking to the time to show up and share your perspective and it makes sense That's where I stand but I I realize I'm just one voice up here So yeah No I I understand I I
respectfully just want to say please don't reward people just for showing up at your meeting That's not what this is for What this is for is to objectively go can they sell the property for what the county has on it um otherwise next
year you'll have 5,000 people here and that's okay The problem is you're going to lower all these values and the taxes aren't going to go down I think I don't know that you're making the connection on some of that Um I will say that we do have an assessor recommendation on his
neighbor's lot um where we were going to bring that to $24,100 They're very similar Um so that's maybe something you want to consider that um those two lots that are side by side that are most likely
unbuildable I wouldn't say totally Maybe you could do a very small garage or something maybe But I know that it is somewhat swampy when you get close to the lake Yeah The first third of the lot well not even the lake It's the road The first third of the lot next to the road
is all wet All wet Yeah So it is a challenging lot and then I would say that there's maybe something there on this one to um consider So he should have more of a similar valuation that as his neighbor at that
24,000 versus the 49 I think that's probably more fair in this situation Sounds like it Yeah I I just did the math based on the neighbor and I came up with 266 But that's just using back of the napkin math You guys So you're saying
you wanted higher uh the valuation But anyway I appreciate your time and uh that's the situation and if you can I don't know if you make a decision here or not But
I would be in favor of bringing his lot down to the neighbors because it sounds like even the county is right So would I in agreement with that too Okay So I guess if we need an official motion um I will motion to bring the
value of your lot down to 24,100 24,100 Do we have a second i'll second Any additional discussion all those in favor signify by saying I I I Thank you for your time I really appreciate it You
bet I have a Kim and Steve I didn't get the last name Lucas Glucas Glucas Okay Sorry about that No So we are over on 49 91 Wilderness Ridge Road on Lower Cullen Just uh here to possibly
reconsider how hard we're getting hit The last four years we've uh it's gone like 20 Now this year I think it goes 30% increase up 190,000 over last year's property value U I think it was mainly the sticker shock that hurt us the most
Um we also just retired I did but you know so you know it's one of those things where you know a 30.5% increase in one year It went up to 8 12 from
622 Uh the neighbor house um right next door was under England is under more now Um that one just sold about a year and a half ago for about a half a million and it's very similar a little bit smaller
No it's more lakeshore there Yeah For the the more property but and and that's a cabin and ours is a cabin um we don't live there but um on the other side it's a it's a home
So it's a I mean the house has got to come in some sort of value there Sure Can you throw the value screen up um Sandra are you driving on that yeah Their value increase from 6227 to
812500 The thing with uh in particular with lower colon uh there were four cells on that body of water um we went up on the we went up on all buildings throughout the county and in addition to that with lower Cullen that went up $1,100 a foot to um up to $4,000
per front foot So after we did those steep increases here are the ratios on the four sales after increase 84% 86% 96% and 97% Uh when you get the median
of all those sales we're at 91% State statute requires we must be between 90 and 105% We're at 91% That's about as low as you can go with the data set that we had on on this lake Um we're not over on any
property and it actually says we I know mayor you're not gonna want here but that we could have or should have maybe increased values even more but that's what the data hold us on lower culling um with with what is is sold Um that we
can definitely look at um that sale that you guys were talking about and compare what you guys have to theirs to see if that makes sense Um but that is why we did what we did on on lower Yeah it's it's just pretty pretty shocking um you
know to go from 400,000 to 820,000 in 5 years Um jock about taxing people right off the lake That's exactly what's happening I mean it's um it it's it was bad in 2020 I think we had a 26% increase and then like a 19% increase
But to go with a 30.5% increase this year it it's that just literally I I I couldn't even believe it when I opened up the envelope It was so penalized by someone coming up and overpaying for a piece of property somewhere around our
lake You know uh I don't think that's a fair thing for the residents and the people of the city uh someone were a debacle away in Minneapolis for everything tripling again up here you know Sure And and it looks like your
taxes were about 4,800 in 2021 Uh and now uh they're just over 5,000 So they've went up about $250 in four years So I understand that that's increasing Um but when you look at those value increases and you alluded to 19% 20ome%
your taxes didn't do that And so what I want to try to help with on that is instead of us talking about these value increases and folks are kind of concerned about that what if we went back in time in 2008 910 when we were actually lowering all the values and
values were going down 10 15 20% So as the county assessor you know I do have the authority to raise or lower values on all properties in the county And if I had to let's just say all the data showed that we have to slash everything in half So if we took your property
values on on lower colon all the way around the lake and we slashed them in half and we went to go we slash them in half We go to downtown Niswah slash all the values in half What do your taxes do i'd be happy with them going down but
they won't go down So you're saying the taxable market value has absolutely nothing to do with taxes No it's not absolutely nothing But the number one driver of what you are going to pay out of your pocket for taxes isn't your value It's government
spending It's how much money does the city county and school need to operate the services that they deem they want to provide to the citizens And so in that hypothetical I was talking about if we slashed everything across the board countywide by 50% and uh your school
district your cities and townships in your county say "You know what we don't need any more money but everybody now is worth le on paper for real estate half Your taxes stay the same They don't go down by half They don't go down a nickel because government spending wasn't
reduced Well we're not really talking about everybody in the city many of Nisa We're talking about the people around the lake Yeah Sure We're really getting gouged And like us we you know made this our our goal to get this place and be able to have it through retirement and
get it to our kids uh and have them be able to afford it after we're gone And these dreams are going you know and I I get it $4,900 two years ago Your taxes have went up about
$125 in and in in three years And what's it going to be next year when our house is valued at 812 i mean a cabin It's not a house It's Sure But what it what it'll be is you're not alone So if you were the only one going up
30% Your your taxes are definitely going up That's how that value plays into it But a lot of lakes not only in this countywide um still are commanding a lot more money than what we had them assessed for So all it means is hey I'm
on paper I'm worth more We don't know what taxes are going to do because those elected local elected officials have to decide what they want to spend in their budgets That's going to basically lock in how much uh you're going to need uh
have to spend Um I will say that your taxes went up from 47 to 5,000 this year Do you guys homestead here oh is this Okay No it's a cabin Oh okay Gotcha I was just going to go down the property It's not a Yeah Oh okay I'll
save that spiel Um but you will see um taxes your value went from 500 and means I should have worn my glasses today up to was that 600 something and your taxes went from 4,900
to 4700 So your value can go up and your taxes can go down but it was a lot a lot less of a increase last year And I do understand that this is this is so significant Honest to God if somebody were to come in and look at our at our
cabin it's not just the land It's not just the lake door It's the it's the home on there too We have a unattached double car garage It's a cabin It's needs a lot of work May you see the foils please you know it's uh got a new
paint job on it So it felt like you know we painted it and all of a sudden it just like whoa now it's worth a lot But uh it does look better But um it to take a Yeah It is Yep So
$190,000 increase on it in one year is and you know it's going to affect our taxes significantly I don't expect we'll have a $500 increase in our taxes next year I'm sure based on that it's going to be a whole lot more
That's our concern Sure also concerned is it going to be up another $200,000 the following year because you know what's there any point of a stop to you know I I think maybe what people are missing is there's not a direct
correlation between the value of your house and the tax dollars because the tax dollars is you know correct me if I'm wrong and I explain this there's not the direct correlation of what the value is of the house everything's going up you
Yeah basically that's saying you guys are making a good investment but what the cities you know how much it costs for the roads all that stuff is what's driving it You know like you said the electrical the elected officials and
what they're spending each year is what's driving it So from that standpoint the value going up that's positive I mean you know slash it you know when home prices dropped in 2009 2010 Nobody like that There's four four
more people that hate that scenario Why would anybody hate that i don't understand I mean if they're trying to sell or trying to market you're lo you're then you're losing money out of your pocket You know you go try and sell it Now you went and paid $500,000 for this house Now it got slashed in half
You can only sell it for $250,000 you just lost $250,000 you know but that's that's what that's what you're saying Just because it increased in value on the potential of what you could sell for it you know the a lot of the dollar amount based
upon what the tax thing is how much the county needs to spend out like for the school districts the roads the upkeep of the county And it's not a direct exact correlation with the two of them It's not a direct exact correlation but it is
considered isn't it if it goes up to $100,000 you're going to raise our taxes more than you are if somebody's home only went up 10% versus 30% You're going to raise ours equivocally that that much more than you would to somebody else
whose value didn't go up So it's a tough pill to swallow We're on a dirt driveway you know it's a dirt road that we're on It's I just don't see where where all of a sudden everything like wow all of a sudden it's worth so much more It's just
it it's seems rather high It It's just a big It's just a huge hit for one year It is huge for one year It's It's that I mean I've never been in here before but this is So the increase is $120 190,000 190,000 No What what's the
in the tax that you pay taxable market value yeah No no no I'm not looking at that So what you're paying out of pocket it's a $120 increase Uh no From 4762 to $5,54 I was comparing to two years ago
they were at $4,900 It actually decreased in 2023 and now it in increased in 2024 or for pay 2025 here to 5,54 and our concern is none of that is none
of it is 10% none of it is 30% what we're paying right so it kind of feels like if they put the market value up 190,000 and they raise our payment by $300 or $600 a year whatever the
following year they're probably going to raise our payment up to match the market value more and we're just going to keep climbing that way Is that is that the wrong way to see how that's happening or Yeah I think so That's kind of a wrong way to look at it I I understand what you're saying Yeah Um is this just a way
to calm us into it but values here county and city and school Yeah need X dollars to operate and go Your valuation goes up here if their need doesn't go up Well
stay it it stays pretty the same So it really for sure if the needs but has that happen What's that that their needs haven't gone up Well right there it shows it went down in 23 because of that So yeah I mean you just look back two
years and that happened in 23 You're you're in the only county in the state history that cut their levy eight years in a row No other county in the whole state of Minnesota's history has ever done that That's that's why when
when we as a council look at the levy and the budget we'd love to keep it at the same Yeah But then you have roads you have other you know wages and stuff that come up and go up there So we try to keep it
so so we're not taking more than we actually use Um sometimes people look at the levy that we put in there and they go "Oh my god." Well yes you know that's things have come in Um the the other thing I guess maybe to
look at my tax bill over the last five years of history we have on the screen your taxes basically have averaged $100 a year So I I totally understand Oh my gosh what's it going to be 500 That's our scare History shows you you've been
going about $100 a year in the last five years That's But the increases have been of the value hasn't been that Yeah the market we haven't been looking at So the market value and what we pay I mean they're two different areas which and
our neighbors what that one just sold for that was like 500,000 and some change about a year and a half ago which you overpaid probably you know but but I guess we just wanted to make our point
with you and I sure I don't and I maybe this isn't the place either but I know that they did do a a curb on Wilderness Ridge Road on Wilderness Road that goes to Wilderness Ridge the dirt road They put in a a curve where you turn onto Wilderness Ridge Road which is the dirt
road And it's a s kind of a windy curve They have a speed limit of 10 and everybody goes 40 We have been hit more times than I we've been almost hit more times than I can tell you coming out or going in because you have to go so slow to get up over that big bump Yeah Like
time or place for that It's like it's they should have done like an approach Yeah Concrete But right now if I come out with a a boat or a trailer with that I got to bounce over real slow and cars come around the corner at you know 30 40 miles an hour which is what they're
going to drive You know it's been close a few times And when they first put the curb in I did a kind of appeal that what they were doing there And it should have been a smooth approach and you know makes a and I don't know if that would be something that we send you an email on that or is that that's a city that's
a city that's a city that's a city so I know another time for that wilderness ridge road uh would probably get on a piece of paper about that everybody hates it that it's a all our neighbors but I know that's a different topic but yeah thanks for your time thank you
Jennifer nice to meet you yeah you guys too we need to make a motion motion yes sir Yeah Wait One of you guys want to make a motion we don't need Oh yeah At this point I would just make a motion to for no
change And what if I can help with that taxes right no change in the value here Here's the thing that happens uh today for anybody that appeals Um if you get relief and you're satisfied great If say
um you still feel I just don't believe we can get to 800 and some for our property you still have the option to go to the county board of commissioners June 16th and present any other information or the same um um uh
information um to have others consider um lowering those values That's the beauty of property tax You don't have to agree with the assessors Not a lot of people do you have in you know kind of independent parties trying to wrestle with what what's fair and equitable for
you That is correct Um so Mark you have a motion Second Okay Any additional discussion nope All those in favor signify by saying I I I Okay Motion carries Thank you Thank you Alan
Millie Amenson I am Millie Ammonson and we live at 25353 Twin Leaf Circle Nysa And last year and I know you said you didn't want to hear about last year but
last year I called to see why the taxes had um gone up so much because it had gone up 17% And then this year it went up almost 22% Um we're paying
$3,64 for a.19 acre It's an 100 by 100 P parcel with a onelevel house no basement It has a crawl space
because it has the furnace in the bottom but um we feel that we're being overcharged for that little parcel We had to
downsize from an acre and a half from in Peekquat lakes to this 100 by 100 parcel because I had to find someplace that I could do the work and that my husband
was in a wheelchair when we moved And I think that it's gone up so much in the last we've only been here three full years that we've gotten
taxes on and it keeps going up We first had $2,500 Now it's $3,64 $1,000 increase in two years That's and then our neighbor who is
trying to sell his place which is quite similar to ours tried to get 500 or 4 50,000 because that's what his estimated market value was and he couldn't So it's
down to 440,000 and it still hasn't sold So I think that our estimated um market value is above what what it
truly is Um when the assessor came last summer I was not available I don't know where I was but my husband said that he came to the door He asked how many bedrooms we had and if we had a
basement or a crawl space and then he left He didn't come in He didn't take a look at you know the little place that we have now Um so I I feel that this is a lot more
than and we're both retired too And if it keeps going up 21% every year we're going to be taxed out of our place because we can't afford that Um uh members of the council if you see
up on the screen there the estimated market value went from last year's assessment of $462,150 to $440,350 So it has been reduced by next year That's and that is what we uh
they're um the city council today is only able to adjust for the 2025 assessment today Previous year's assessments which are based on different data sets are are uh unappealable I should say today it's just at current
valuation that has been reduced from last year How does that happen that our house went from $350,000 home to a $462,000 home in two years Mhm In two
years Yes You're saying that maybe next year we're only going to pay on $440,000 How did you lower it by 22,000 we haven't done anything to that house Sure It it's based on some sales that have happened right there around Twin
Leaf or other similar little neighborhoods Um we have a a sale that's right there that um very similar home sold for $430,000 Um uh if you wanted to pull up
811 but what it's all based on is basically sales of property similar property And we've had quite a few sales in Twin Leaf You know there have been newer homes over the last three four years Some are bigger homes This one that I'll show you is the
same size So that's why we arrive at that understanding that you know we we believe you'd get to 440,000 So what we believe has happened is the market has got got really hot in you
know on that type of property and now it's kind of started to we see this starting to um you can say cool down or rescend a little bit We still are waiting to see the lake shore do that but we we are starting to see some of the offwater start to do that a little
bit where we haven't necessar seen that yet on some of the water influence property Well we don't have Lakeshore It's a9 acre home Well the only thing I would say you guys are in a common interest
community So you share in the recreation of all of the land that's not inside those little postage stamps And if my understanding uh when this whole thing went um when the bank foreclosed on it back in I don't know was it 2010 before they started building the homes on the
first developer and they're like a little skinny thing that goes out to Clark Um not saying that that's a big deal but I do believe there's a little you can go you know oh yeah there you go and a little dock out there that you can go and look at the lake a little bit and
you know just part of your ownership So you you do have use and benefit of that where if you had the same home not in this development they don't have that So if we sell that little thing that uh you're talking
about then the the value of all the homes in Twin Leaf will go down because I'm on the HOA I know what you're talking about and nobody uses it So if we sell that little thing
um all the houses the value of the houses will go down I'm sure they'll go down a little bit Yep I'll bring that up then but I I But I can't remember if that's part of that actual
flatter Is it 22% every year and yes the value is to go down a little bit but we can't sustain that kind of an increase We can't When you're retired
you just you're living on social security and a little bit of pension Um I I'm I'm assuming you live here and I hope you're um taking full advantage of the property tax refund program
um if there was no new construction on this home and this was all appreciation in the market your taxes you know went up uh about $650 $660 Um two ways to qualify for property tax refund in the state of Minnesota The first one is income based So you said
you were on a a fixed income or you're retired So how much income did I get here are my taxes that basically you do this and it tells you how much you I went and I got a little bit of a refund last year from property taxes because I went out on the website Sure And I
signed up because ours was higher than the norm Well and I I don't know exactly what you you you know you got but I will tell you that uh I'm sure it was north of five 600 bucks to um help you with some of those property tax increases Mhm
That's what has happened We don't see it here anymore in these meetings Sure Uh but they've put a lot more money in those property tax refund programs to help with your property taxes spike Um so I do sounds like you're already taking advantage of that which can
greatly help Oh yeah We have to look every place we can Sure You know now um is there anything the council would like to see on this one um but yeah mainly a Twin Leaf uh um
neighborhood was um did go down and and estimate a market value um for 2025 Yeah Next year or for this year yeah This year's assessment for taxes next year But not the taxes that I'm paying this year That's correct ma'am
I don't think we can affect that It's only for next year Correct Y So you're not going to do anything we can't We can't for this year Yeah It's only for next year Yeah So literally we can't do anything about it
for this year For what I'm paying this year yeah We We can't That's not what this is about It's for next year So we we cannot do anything about it for this year it it's the uh what they have control on today is if they believe you could sell your
property as of January 2nd for 440,000 if they believe that that's too high that's what they have control over today is oh maybe that's still too high and we want it at 350 I'm just throwing out a arbitrary number there but that's what they have uh in control today to do okay
well our neighbor is not able to sell his place at 440,000 either and it is similar to ours So is it yeah I don't know if what it actually does sell for this year I don't know what it will be And that's what
happens is then whatever somebody sells their property for We just react to it Basically follow is the market going up so people's values are increasing Is the market going down and and we have to go down There's frankly nothing easier for
an assessor to do than lower property value Everybody thinks we're out there you know trying to get all this money for government but that's not what we do Um but when we lower value it doesn't necessarily mean your taxes are going to go down It all I I'm a broken record here today but it goes back to how much
I might be paying the same amount next year even though the value is down Could you could it all depends on how much spending is going to occur And I'll just tell you it seems pretty ugly right now with some of the shifts that the governor has proposed onto counties It's
really and that's just at the county level I haven't even paying attention if he's been doing anything with the cities or schools I mean yikes Okay Well thank you for your time Thank you So we would need an official motion if
you felt no change just in case she would like to proceed to the next meeting I'll make a motion no change and I I would say go to the June meeting Joe seconds it Um any additional discussion
all those in favor signify by saying I I Okay Motion carries K Wilkin Hello Good afternoon Um my name is Kent Wilining I live at 25201 Burch and Pine Lane uh in Niswah
And um I guess first off I'd like to say I my wife and I purchased our home 7 years ago Uh we didn't buy it as an investment We bought it as a retirement home where uh four years ago I retired and we moved
up here Uh so this is my forever home It's not an investment Um over the when we bought it um seven years ago the market value was was very low uh reasonable and over the past probably
four to five years Um it's went from about 500,000 up to uh almost a million2 um in I think it was 22 it it took a
huge jump last year it went up 51,000 in value now this for the next uh year or it went up two 200,000 a little over 200,000 um you know and and I understand the the
the sales and and everything like that um but we had a lot of sales um around this area in the previous years Um and like I said it went up 51,000 I think it was from 23 to 24 Now
from 24 and 25 or it's going up 200,000 Um that's a pretty good jump And it used to be that when when a person made some improvements to their home maybe did an addition or something like that that's what drove the value up Um
I'd hate to see what would happen if I did do an addition or some improvements to the property on how much it would go up Um and as you can see my property taxes have went up uh you know I think significantly over the years that that
we've owned this Um I also understand that um the county is just following what the state says you have to do on sales Uh I've been here previously and I've been told you know if you don't like it go to your legislators
um and complain about that Well me as an individual um doesn't have a lot of weight But if the county went through their association Minnesota uh counties and the city went through the League of Minnesota Cities and all went in and
complained about we're taxing our people out of their homes because we're raising our values to keep up with sales they may listen to the uh AMC and they may listen to the LMC over just an individual taxpayer going in Uh so you
know and I understand by my being here um and tell me my value is not going to go down it gives me the right to go to the county board and explain my position Like I said uh 50 51,000 from one year to the next yeah I understand that But
over 200,000 that to me is a a pretty good jump Um and yeah I live on a lake Um and it's a beautiful lake Um but I bought this as a retirement home Um and like
many of the other ones do I'm I'm on a fixed income also Um like I said I just I think it this was just a little bit My my next door neighbor has a a seasonal cabin and it he winterizes it Um and his went up I
think about the same And I always kind of was under the impression that a seasonal or recreational property may be valued or taxed differently than a property that's homesteaded And and we homestead this and this is where we live
Um so I thought there was a little bit of a difference in you know people that just had a recreational seasonal uh that their values may go up more over than people that are living you know at their at their homes Sure Um to the to that
question sir uh when it comes to valuation uh the classification plays no um I want to say part of it So whether you live in the home or it's um your second home we value them the same regardless of that occupancy You know
you should be able to sell it We don't know if the next owner is going to live there or not Um but what is the difference is how they're taxed So the value is the value and if you live in your home you pay to the school voted referendum and if you're a seasonal
property you pay to what's called a state general tax And that money leaves our community goes to St Paul and they have a formula with its income and and real estate values and stuff And that gets reallocated out to school districts
throughout the state For every dollar that leaves Crowing County I think we get a just a little bit Crosby Iron gets just a little bit of money back but lot of money leaves here and never comes back to our communities because of the state genotax um issue But that's bigger
than our meeting here today But that's really the only difference there The folks that are seasonal are not not eligible to apply for property tax refund Um and you know if you get over 5 and I think it's 580 now or something
you wouldn't get any homestead exclusion anymore but you still have the ability to seek some relief with the property tax refund program And then and that's a big thing because it used to where I moved from I always got when I you know homesteaded I always my taxes were cut
in half because of that homestead you know exclusion Here it's taken away because the value of my home is is so much higher Well and what it used to be too was that state general tax used to be a lot higher of a tax more of like
I'd say a penalty almost where what's happened over the last say decade with school referendums they are you know it's depending on the school district some of the referendums are more than the state general taxes So the folks that live there pay more tax than the
folks that are seasonal depending on the school district Yeah and and I understand the in the past couple years my taxes they've fluctuated one go down a little bit but what this does is by increasing my value 200,000 it gives you
the ability to tax me a lot more you know it it does because my value went up um you know you can raise the taxes like I said my my my gripe is I keep hearing well if you don't like it go to the
state well My gripe to you guys is do it with your associations and you have more of a voice Um if you really want to make sure that my taxes don't go up you go to the legislature and you say "We can't afford to do what we're doing anymore We're
we're you know taxing people out of their homes." And that's like I said 50 51,000 in one year to me that it's Yeah that's enough But when it goes up 202 thou you know 200,000 that's a lot I I
totally understand I I will if if you're not familiar too if um the state of Minnesota also has a senior citizen deferral program So if it is the real estate taxes that are going to prevent you from staying in your home that oh my
gosh I can't stay here anymore because I can't afford to uh there is a senior citizen deferral that you can defer all those taxes until the time you either pass away or sell the property so that you can remain in your home and so that um it isn't the taxes that drive you out
Uh so there is that too um uh if you weren't aware of that program What lake are you on uh Roy Roy Yep And I I don't did you mention how much that one went up per Sure Um Roy Lake It
currently is at $8,000 It went up $1,600 a foot So $160,000 for 100 feet of the lake shore And I've got like 101 or whatever lake shore So no but we sure can when you come up
So that that's just you know I've been here before Uh I know that I have to be here to get to the county board Sure Um so that's that's why I'm here The um four sales similar to kind of what I said on
Lower Cullen the four sales that happened on Roy Lake um the median sale price after we did that huge uh frontage adjustment and and values of structures have went up we're at 94 and a half% So
again the data is showing yes we increased a lot but people still paid more than what we have for the assessed values on on Roy Lake It's it's unbelievable what they're they paid And
if if my investment portfolio went up as much as my home value I'd be doing really well I hear you sir Thank you Thanks We need Do we need to make a motion so he can go to the county level
i make a motion Uh no change I'll second Any additional discussion okay All those in favor signify by saying I I Motion carries Eric Flam Good afternoon everybody I appreciate
you uh all giving us an opportunity to come and talk I'm losing my voice Oh allergy season Um did you guys get the authorization okay So do you want to start with that then so that's the property at 4256 Upper Roy Lake Road
So we motioned it was 9500 on that other one Yep So if you want the par the parcel number is what they'll need Sandra Um upper Roy Lake Road Yeah it's my father-in-law Ken Ben Scooter Do
you know if they're to the are looking at the lake are they the left or the right of Shirley that was here earlier i believe they're the furthest left because the new the the people that own the property that did all the enhancements and put gates up they're definitely infringing on that
a property What's that eckleberry Is that the one Okay That would be parcel number 281000500 So they have a representative asking for the 9500 if that's what you guys want to do I'll make a motion to uh
lower it to 9500 I'll second Any additional discussion all those in favor signify by saying I I I Okay Motion carries Thank you Um and in some context the property that sold for like 700 that
crazy amount 6.95 Yeah That is an investment property and they verbbo it and they use that dock They're the only ones that put a dock out and that's part of their advertisement on Verbbo is you have access to the Gulch Chain as well as ADNA So they're it's strictly a an
investment property They didn't care at all what they paid for it which is why it was so um inflated at the time So sure All right So actually that property kind of ties into the background of what
I'm here to discuss So my my in-laws have been coming up here since the 50s Grandma Echoberry bought that property and so my wife grew up and um coming up here and so one of our long-term goals that has turned 56 I really shouldn't share that but you know it's like
getting closer to retirement and what we want to do is have a summer place to come up and retire and and spend our summers in Minnesota A lot of people do that Um and so we've looked and looked and it's not very affordable to buy a lake a lake home on G or Hubert or any
of the places Um but we kept looking and persevering and we found a place on the same lake Um and subsequently my wife's c couple first cousins have also bought property on Edna and so they we got a whole row of family which is really cool
We ended up on the fawn side So the address is 26314 Padre Place Yeah we just purchased that in the end of two 2000 or 2023 So we've been there for a little over a year
Um the property I will freely admit we overpaid for it based on what we got as far as the building There's no garage Um the property is 740 square ft It was built in the 1940s It's been kind of
cobbled together over the years Um bedrooms are 8 by9 They're tiny They barely fit a bed in there No closets no storage no anything Um the property is absolutely beautiful but our plan is long-term We weren't looking at this as
we'll buy it use it turn around and sell it someday and make some money on it We looked at it as here's an opportunity if we can add a garage or build something um you know further into the property that we can retire in whatever whatever Um that we would kind of build it out as
we go towards retirement Um so we you know we we took money out of our retirement That's how dedicated we were This is part of our retirement plan So we paid for this out of our retirement funds And the first thing we
did and I I will uh I will um commend the city You guys were wonderful to work with Um one issue we had was our um the steps going down to Blake There's not really flat elevation on that lot except where the cabin's actually sitting
Horrible railroad tide stairs They were rotting and very dangerous We had a landscaper come out and he looked at our boulder walls and they're 600lb boulders that are just kind of stacked on top of each other And so what was going to be just a little stair project turned into
a much bigger project Cost a lot of money and that was an unforeseen expense So we did that one improvement and then when I got the tax bill for this year I'm like well that's kind of in alignment with what we paid We got a valuation of
$430,000 but our taxes went way up And then I saw the valuation for for next year's taxes And then I was really shocked and I'm like we've made no improvements other than fixing the landscaping which was a complete danger
And our land value went up 105% our building value went up 51% Which is a total of 88% And then our tax actual tax dollars which seems to be the more focus went up 93% So if I estimate next year's taxes
based on just this year's rate we're going to go from $2,488 to almost $5,000 in one year of owning that place So when I look at that and I look at the neighboring properties because so we're
we're serviced by a private road So we have to maintain that private road and the people next to us that get to their property they're seasonal So I've already had to put money into the road because people use it as a sidebyside recreational trail Um but um regardless of that um when I'm
when I'm looking at kind of future state we haven't made no improvements if we I'm I'm frightened to do anything with the property now because we're at such a high value already for essentially a I I don't believe for a minute based on the
fact that we've had um a lot sitting on that lake for two or three years for 170 grand that hasn't been able to sell and it's lakefront Um the building itself has almost no value but you um getting taxed at $170 a
square foot So to put that in um put that in context Fawn Ridge you have to drive through which is a new development to get to our place We're at the same per square foot value on their main living quarters and they all have a walk out basement They're four or 5,000t
homes and they're in that 170 range If I go around and look on the lake at places that are similar to ours um that are all of them are bigger they're typically in the 90 to $120 per square foot range And it's the same thing with the land Um
just adjoining us we've got one parcel it's 2.47 acres that's 219,000 value versus our $372,000 value Two doors down Lovely retired lady She's got 5.7 acres far
more frontage than we do and her valuation's at $292,000 So her her 5 acre parcel is less than our 2.15 acre parcel The previous owner did subdivide it so that's what that that big garage there is not part of our
property And then right next door to us again is another uh 2.6 acre parcel I believe that one has a cabin on it They're valued at 282,000 land value So I'm I'm looking at it trying to
figure out what drove less important the value um but what drove our taxes to they're they're going to double essentially from the time we purchased till today
He mentioned he bought it in 2023 at the very end Yeah we closed in are 477,000 Our current value is 501 So it's basically 5% appreciated from 2023 to basically
2025 You heard the folks that have been here before he's been up They've seen a lot more than a 5% increase um uh this year alone Uh five sales on Edna Fong
median sale ratio is right at 99% Um so the these are the cases that they help us understand how much the property is worth It's what they were willing to pay for it And that's um that's where
we're at on on this When you compare that he's got two and a half I think acres if I seen that right The other ones had some more acreage but it's the frontage that drives the value not the acreage So the more frontage you have on on and you have elbow room so you're not
tripping over your neighbor's dock is worth a lot more than having an extra acre behind it That's what we see in the sales is I mean hopefully that kind of makes sense If you see any realtor listing out there what do they lead with how much frontage you have um not so much And acreage is important don't get
me wrong but that's why there's a discrepancy in why this one's more than some of the other ones Yeah I mean one thing to definitely keep in mind is that there's only probably 10% of that is actually usable as lakefront The rest of it is all marsh and and wetlands Like
you couldn't put a dock out there Sure I'm in the same situation and still keeps going up because it's now a desirable lake but my whole frontage is bogged Yeah Um does that factor in at
all to the calculation or um Yeah Yeah So um I mean just to give you an idea in in in the 2023 valuation was $267,000 It's now going to be $51,000
Can you pull up the pictures for Yeah I see on that one Yep And also he said something You said that you have to drive through that I know what development you're talking about Yeah with those bigger homes Is it getting compared to that because those are totally different
Do you know I know that development yeah but no it's just with the lake shore Oh it's the lake shore Yeah And that's the money that we put into it We had to we got rid of the stairs and put some safe stairs in and then we had to rework all the boulder walls because they were all crumbling and falling
One of the things that has happened too is um we want to you know pick on g or whitefish or pelican bay hubert some of these that are real expensive lakes a lot of people are priced off
those bodies of water and they're spending and choosing to buy on these smaller lakes which is also impacting the value on these smaller still nice lakes don't get me wrong but they can get a lot more bang for the buck you could say on the smaller bodies of water
than a million dollar lot on on Eagle you know and it's just putting more pressure and what what people are able to sell their properties for on the smaller bodies of water too So it was a 5% increase What was the dollar what was
that 5% in a dollar value in the tax oh well I was just saying it's a 5% increase from what he paid for the property right we were at um our increase was 431 to 501 So 70 Yeah
Roughly Roughly Yeah Do you have more pictures of the property you know you had mentioned you enhanced the the landscape Yeah We we rebuilt all the boulder walls We did all that Yep Yeah So I mean just in that it looks like you know the value would be
there in just the increase in the landscaping Well it did have walls there before but they were falling apart And the only other building on that entire property is a garden shed Basically we don't So I mean the reality
is we're you know like if if I'm going to build a garage on there does that mean that garage is going to add another 100 or 150 or $200,000 then I'm going to be here standing in front of you saying that a 740 foot cabin that has literally
no you can't live in it because it doesn't have any storage that that's going to be worth seven or $800,000 Well it does depend on what you build but I hope you can kind of understand where we're coming from that you paid basically what we have on the property
So it's worth it to you So why would somebody else not be willing to pay if you improve it with a garage let's say you build a just a $100,000 garage depending on size and are you going to insulate line heat and all that kind of stuff Why wouldn't they be willing to pay the
$600,000 you know if that's what you choose to do and if it's even 100,000 you know you could maybe do a smaller one at 50 or you know but but how can you come up with a $170 per square foot for that place that's what I I mean I'm looking at I looked at 30 other homes on
that lake and most of them have walkout basements They're newer Um they're much bigger and they're at or below the same square footage and these are new modern I don't have central air I don't have heat I think the big factor with some of
this is the lakes and everybody wanting them So they look at the frontage that you have on the lake usable or not And that's a big determination in in in the valuations Well it's not shouldn't be on the building
The price per square foot on your building is you you've got the valuation wrapped up in my land already You're taxing me for the frontage and everything else I'm literally talking about it's it's essentially a shack So what your So your issue is the value of
the house Well I mean kind of the combination of it but yeah I mean I I don't think that that building itself is worth $130,000 What does your insurance say it's worth
whatever What's the replacement value i have no idea off the top of my head I mean right now in the construction world you know um $170 per square foot is not a realistic
price as far as any sort of living structure at any sort of replacement cost value in today's current market in this in this current industry rate in Cone County you know Well again I just want a comparison though again if you look at Fawn Ridge and you break down
the the building value by square foot I'm I'm sitting right at their level Other places on the lake that are comparable to mine are the other one $110 a square foot $90 a square foot And then if you take into account and that's
just using upper floor square footage if you take into account walkout basement because that is not a finished basement That's just a little that that isn't uh most of that place is on slab because like I said it's cobbled together Um so
um I don't know how you're if you're just looking at the buildings are you looking at the overall value i mean we got 370,000 on on the land 100,000 on the cabin Um well it's 130,000 on the cabin
and for 130,000 um it doesn't go very far anymore with building material Um so I don't which ones if you have a specific one that you want the council to look at we sure can Um but I will just I will just say I'm going to go
back to it must have been worth it to you because you paid $477 Yep It definitely was for us So now why is it not worth it no I'm saying as far as market value I wouldn't that that place wouldn't even probably pass inspection if I tried to sell it Sure
But we do see a lot of um you know let's just say not year round cabins that sell all the time You know there's still a lot of those around and they still um it's it's um kind of a nichy thing that a lot of folks are still looking for You
know they don't want the McMansion They want something that's one more affordable but uh they only need it for the summer They're not up here in the winter you know and and I kind of get the feeling that is kind of what you have here a little bit Well this is a long-term this is a long-term project
That's why we bought it That's why we we didn't look at this as an investment or we're going to sell it in five years and use it and enjoy it We were looking at this as part of building our retirement out Sure And and you know the way the state of Minnesota works I mean if you're if you're going to retire with
401k and IRA money first thing they tell you is get out of state set up residency in Florida Arizona Texas and then get a second home if you want to spend your summers up here So that's what this is for us It's not liveable right now the
way it is So we wanted the land either to be able to add on which is an issue because we're so close to the lake or build another pro another small house that's livable that has closets and actual place to store and a little
garage and stuff like that So sure So we have a grandio plan for the next 10 years Um but this definitely put a um a reality check on it And and the one thing I can I can just share especially
the people involved in budget for every dollar you increase for people like me that's less money we're going to spend in the communities like we had ideas and plans for additional things we want to do to this property and this completely put it on hold because if we add continual value we're not going to be
able to afford eight or $10,000 in taxes It's just not going to happen So appreciate you guys uh taking time to listen to me and taking care of my father-in-law He'll be happy about that
Anything else this the council wants to see or hear from I do think it's ridiculous you can raise somebody's property taxes the actual dollar amount by three figure percentage points I I
mean that's insane in this Oh I was just going to say it used to be when I started this job about 23 24 years ago it used to have limits or limited market value that the estimated market value is still do
whatever it did but what you actually paid on there were limits to that You know it used to be 10% then it went to 12% went to 15 and then they phased it out So now it is you know what it is But I I I understand and for the folks that
live in their home and if that happens that's where that property tax refund program really helps out But yeah if you're a Florida or Texas resident there's just there's not a lot of help you know in the state for that So is it still the house that you're most Well I
I still I I I can't figure out you know again if I compare like my building value and my land value against you know it's hard to find something similar because every place on that lake is bigger than ours I can't find anything
that's anywhere near $170 a square foot unless I get into like like Fawn Ridge like these brand new state-of-the-art homes that have all the features and things like that um you know they have shared lakefront so I I didn't even bother to look at their land value but I
went through probably 30 different property tax records last night and comparing just to see if I could argue with myself and I'm like I I just I I don't get um I I'm penalized for buying the property It's it's that simple I
shouldn't have paid 477 for it I mean it's ultimately that's my takeaway because I literally drove the market up for myself Does it does it make any I mean I don't know because one of the options potentially Yeah Yeah Yeah Well I I was
I was really naive Basically you're willing to pay for it and and that's what some of this stuff is set off So yeah You know essentially that's my my two things were this is a fairly affordable place but not really for what you're getting low taxes and I'm putting
my wife on the same lake as in-laws and cousins So I may have been a little dumb in making that decision but but yeah I still I'm going to have that open question on how my per per square foot on that tiny little place
can be that high And if you're telling me that I'm paying tax based on uh I should feel good about because it would cost me more to replace it I I just don't I don't think that's a fair analogy I feel I don't know that anyone said that Well
you were talking about construction costs and stuff like that Yeah but I didn't say you should feel good Oh yeah I I got you I got you I don't know I mean
would it do anything if an assessor went back out there or not would it change anything we definitely still can um if he wants us to come up before county board uh we sure can we can continue to work with him on um the understanding why smaller
builds do um uh go to Costco and buy a big thing of toilet paper versus going to Walgreens and buying the fourack You build a larger home it's going to be cheaper per square foot So if he's comparing a uh 7 800 foot cabin to a
1500 2,000 foot house yeah the math ain't going to come out Oh geez I'm too high That's because you're dealing with a lot smaller and we do have a higher per square foot on those depreciated Don't get me wrong it's not new by any means and it's not a very high quality
because that plays into it too But I think that's maybe one of the things I don't know exactly which ones he's comparing to but I doing this long enough that's one of the more common things that maybe get folks may be a little confused Well I mean the perfect example is the the person two doors down
from me their place I think is 1,800 square feet or 2,000 square feet Sure With more frontage and more make almost five almost six acres and their valuation and taxes are lower than mine and and we can look at that I thought
you were worried about the Yeah that's why I'm saying does it make sense to send someone back out there to look at it because I know somebody came out Like I said I didn't get a business card or anything And we must have been out there cuz we've been there since he did his landscaping and his sand Oh those are new pictures Yeah but they
didn't they didn't look at I wasn't there They didn't leave a card or or they weren't in the building of the house Okay Yeah So one of the other things you can do is if it's a no change today we can
set up an appointment uh with Mr uh uh flam to go out and review If there's anything we need to uh change or lower uh we can run that through county board and or if we say "No I think it looks good." He still can appeal to county
board um if he so um felt compelled to do so Well would you want someone to come back out and take a look and when you're there sure I I I I'm going to take the risk that they're not going to add value to it based on walking the property and looking inside the building
So yeah I mean if that's a possibility Sure Yeah Like I said it was a a shocking increase and definitely unexpected And to put some perspective on it that's a month of salary for me to pay property taxes on this property So
do we need to motion to send someone back out so you have two options do you want us to go out and report back to this board or you can just say no change here today and we will make an appointment with him and it's it's three things One we go out there we find
something and we need to raise the value not saying that we go out there and we say uh we are not going to change the value but you still can appeal to the county board or we find that maybe the condition or there's something with the old cabin that we can agree on that
could reduce some of the value and that's what we run through county so there's those options there just trying to be fully transparent not I hope you don't take that as a threat because I'm not trying to say oh we're going to come out there and raise your value I'm not just trying to give you the whole gamut what happens I think we some Yeah you
could take us have someone come back back out It sounds like a Right So you'd have to make a motion for no change right yeah I'd make a motion for no change I'll second Okay Any additional discussion got to set up the time All
those in favor signify by saying I I Okay So then you'll Yeah we can just leave a phone number over here and Yep Mark Ernest he left Jim Castrea Good
afternoon I'm Jim Casta and my wife Ann We live at 4619 Wilderness Ridge Road which is on lower Cullen Lake And we heard the discussion earlier with the clucuses so we have a better understanding of what's
going on on our lake So we don't have to go through all that again But we still have an interest in knowing why in 2023 our estimated market value went up
147,200 and then for 2026 it's going to go up another 150,200 It did go down in 2025 24,800 which I don't understand that either Why did it go down it was nice to
see but then to take that fantastic jump for 2026 Yeah Uh hopefully the council can see that Um he's if you go back to 2023 he was at a value of 610,000 and some
change It did be it was reduced for 2024 last year's assessment for pay this year to 5.85 85 and with those sales that we referenced earlier uh where we're at 91% um it is now at
736 but that's where um uh more totally honest we probably shouldn't have lowered it last year and they wouldn't be talking about this big increase as much this year and that's what has happened was we had a a couple
of sales last year we're like we should lower it a little bit now the problem What you're hearing is "Oh geez it's such a big increase." Well hindsight being 2020 we could have just left it alone and not decreased it last year and it wouldn't be such a big gap for you this year but we did do what we did Our
neighbors property is going on the market May 1st for 450,000 Your neighbors yes Okay Does that mean that ours is going to go way down then um we could see what we have for valuation on it Do you do you know what we have which one is it north or south
of you um so south so south so south so south so south so south so south so south so south so south so asmuses it must be of property I think they don't have much land in there huh they're just right off the trail there right
this way the lakeore They're right next door to you guys Yes Okay Yeah So it'd be that first two Sandra Yeah those two Not all four I don't think Let's just pull up what the cap Yeah those two total are So it's listed at
450 you say yes that's what he told me that he's going Okay Listed So just So that one's at 223 What's the other one Sandra add that little triangle piece at 85 95 I got to get glasses I tell
you Well so we're at 428 He's at 450 So let's say he gets what he asked for it We're still going to be under what so it's not going to go down That'd be an indicator we still need to raise value You're still going to raise overs well
I'm not saying we would raise anybody's yet I would just if that sale goes at 450 we're sitting at basically 428,000 That would be an indicator that our value still potentially needs to go up but I mean I don't want to say that's still pretty early in our sales ratio
for for next year But let's say it doesn't sell at 450 Maybe he only gets 415 for it Well then that would be an indicator that oh there's one that it might tell us that we need to reduce value but it all is going to come down to what somebody pays for the
property Okay Well we love where we're at so hopefully our taxes won't keep going up even though the estimated market value keeps going up so much Um we call that homes with a lot of
character Sure What was the value we had on theirs 700 and some you know and if you just kind of your neighbors going to get are listed at 450 you know and you go geez I mean they I don't even know Do they even
own a lawn mower they probably didn't have a lawn you know He doesn't like to use it though Um can we see a photo of the house Sandra we did make some improvements We had to take three trees down last year That's
79y old home right there It's been resided and that's nice Great condition for that age It's resided And then that way on the right side that's an addition that we put on 14 years ago now Okay I was expecting something else but um
it's nice Okay look at that values district Well good bad or ugly at least the taxes went down this year a little bit That's right You know not very many people here today could say that You know earlier you mentioned about How
many years in a row the county didn't raise their taxes right Eight years in a row Eight years in a row they cut spending But that ninth year they went up what what 7% Yeah It was about 699 Yes But that same year do you know what cass
County went up Yeah Almost nine But they didn't cutting for eight years before that Just And I'm picking on Cass because they're just right next door But well you know Well I have to discuss with the mayor and Joe if we can have our taxes dedicated to the streets
at Grand View City Streets there They're terrible at You're getting some new ones soon Pardon me You're getting some new streets soon Yeah that's been said for about five years I think I think come June We just voted on it Really there's
pothole patches on top of pothole patches Yeah Well real quick Okay They used to tell me those were built-in speed bumps I'd say keep the speed down No I think it's body shop work Yeah Well thank you Thank you Thank you sir
Um so we need to motion for no change Yeah I'll make a motion for no change Second All those in favor signify by saying I I Motion carries Oh Um Mr Dwey did you sign in
no Oh okay Sure Oh okay So you're not here to appeal Do you want if you guys are okay do you have anything you want to speak with the council we have a few other recommendations for you but just two Oh okay So we don't have anyone else nobody else So then we do
have two items of business for um the council You want to pull up uh the Bernie Roberts one first this property is located at 5863 Nashway Oh is this the one on Yeah this is the one on Bass Lake So oh the one we just talked about Um
this would be the neighbor one to the second appeal you had today This is the one we were um asking to reduce from 689 to $24,100 So they'd be basically the same price on on Bass Lake So we're asking if you
would um if you would feel um so to reduce that You want the parcel number Kiki 28360582 That would be a reduction from 68,900 to 24,100 is the recommendation
So then all three of those parcels would be roughly the same Um the two will be the one that the county owns um is like decimated because of the storm water That's that that's that little drainage pond And there is talks that were I think a neighbor wants to buy that Have
you guys heard that they want to buy it so that it's not in county people can't get on the lake or something yeah I did hear that Yeah When I was door knockocking Oh did you yeah I did Okay Oh do we need a motion yeah I'll make a
motion to reduce to 24,100 Second Okay All those in favor signify by saying I I I Okay that carries Uh the second one here Jeez you guys got a lot of notes on this
one Do you want to walk through that do you know what's going on here Sandra i'm just looking at all your scribble but I uh I don't want to mess it up Brad You got the parcel number to pull up oh I should have just told you what the parcel was
Maybe I was missing it somewhere You want to hop on her thing and pull that up i realize that now Parcel Kiki 28120501 But our budget budget that we pass Oh yeah It is
a Steve Peterson I got 281251 [Music] This was a property that um the the property owner called into our office Um
oh I'm sorry the property owner called into our office and spoke with Sheila about the value of the land and um when she had reviewed the property record he was comparing his lake shore to his
neighbor's property and um it was discovered that this neighbor um for a sim very similar situation was receiving more of a reduction for vegetation than he was receiving So the uh the change is
a request to um make his more consistent with his neighboring property So the recommendation would be to would be to reduce the value from 471,700 and ask uh the board to reduce it to 464300
Yeah I'll make a motion to reduce it to 464300 Second Any discussion all those in favor signify by saying I I I Motion carries See there's proof we actually reduced something What's that what was that
address what's that what was the address on that one oh uh 25124 Norway Lane Okay that's it Yep So that's all the business we have You have a hand in the audience if you
want Oh yes Do you want to come to the microphone yes I'm Julie Krowy uh on Round Lake So I always like to come and say okay what is square footage on these lakes being assessed at you know
and so what's Gull right now goal is 11,000 Yeah What we could do So it went up then from 9 to 11 Yeah Went up $1,900 Okay And one thing we can I bet you if we're real nice to Kiki she would make you a copy of this too And you could
probably take it with you maybe Oh I Yes What's round at now um 8,400 right there Round is at 70 7,300 What's I'm sorry So round is at 73 Yeah
Thank you I see So just your land on 100 feet went 110,000 this year Yep Yep No I um Sheila I've emailed and I've appreciated her feedback as well as any of you in the in the office
Um you know maybe just a suggestion to have a a sheet from year to year because your discussion about sales is you know you're always talking about how sales
impact values and you know I it's been a like I said it's been an education for me over time to understand that and how it's impacted And you know my one of my questions is always on the lakes Is it
steady is it is it advancing or going up it goes up it's steady Yeah Yeah And and it I think that's because you know it's not only people from the state want to move here and build people from around the country want to come here and
build Um because it is a beautiful place Yeah Thank you for your time Thank you ma'am Thank you Um so we don't have anything else right well we would just need a motion to adjurnn I'll make a motion to adjurnn
Second All right Um a motion to adjurnn is not debatable So all those in favor signify by saying I I All right We are adjourned Right 305 TV