Taxpayer Services office is about more than just taxes

Editor’s note: This article is part of a series explaining each department that makes up Kittson County government. One major function of newspapers is to inform the general public of not only its government’s actions, but also how local government functions.

By Anna Jauhola
There is rarely a quiet moment in any taxpayer services office, including at the Kittson County Courthouse. Between their own paperwork and data entry, they are submitting paperwork to the state of Minnesota, working with the assessor’s and recorder’s offices, and assisting the public.
The basic function of the taxpayer services office is to calculate property taxes for the county, collect the taxes and to distribute tax money to all public authorities, said April Klecker, taxpayer services specialist and CFO assistant. This includes distributing to cities, townships, school districts, the regional housing and development authorities, any special assessments and for the one tax increment financing district in Hallock.
While taxpayers are most familiar with their own assessment notices and tax statements, the taxpayer services office has an entire calendar they follow, starting each November.
“We start with our TNTs,” Klecker said, referring to the Truth in Taxation statements, which show the proposed taxes for the year and whether there is an increase. “They get mailed out in November.”
By December, Klecker, CFO Shirley Swenson and Taxpayer Services Specialist Kristen Olsonawski are working on final levies submitted not only from the county commission, but also from each city, township and school district. Those are certified by Dec. 31.
“We do our final settlements in January. Whatever payments we receive through Dec. 31, we mail out in January,” Swenson said about tax payments to various authorities from the previous year’s tax statements.
In February, the tax calculation process begins. Klecker said they use the property valuations, and a classification rate to calculate the tax capacity, which depends on what districts the properties are in – school, watershed, cities, townships, etc.
“Before I would even calculate a specific parcel, that’s what you’d do in the background,” Klecker said. “You’d add up all those authorities, which have all their own rates, based on the entire value of the district. That comes up with their combined local tax rate. That is then multiplied by your tax capacity you get from your (parcel’s) value.”
It’s a complicated process because there is no straight across the board way to calculate parcels. For example, if a school district has an operating referendum, like Kittson Central, agricultural land is exempt from that tax. If there is a home on agricultural land, then that home, garage and 1 acre of land is taxed. Otherwise, all homes within the district are taxed for that referendum. However, if they have a capital improvement referendum, then ag land is taxed and there’s no burden on homeowners.
There are several other different classifications as well, which require close evaluation to ensure proper calculation.
“We make sure rates are calculated correctly, make sure levies are correct and special assessments are on there, and if anyone prepaid,” Klecker said. “Some might prepay off their TNTs or proposed statements.”
By March 31, finalized statements for the payable taxes are mailed out to property owners. The office works with Primadata in Wisconsin. They print, fold and mail statements, which are sent out by property owner name, Klecker said.
When April rolls around, then the office gets really busy as tax payments begin to arrive – in the mail and in person – and phone calls inundate them. This year, the valuation notices from the assessor’s office were mailed along with the tax statements. The entire month is spent processing payments, all the way up to the first-half deadline of May 15.
At the same time, they are working on processing the first settlements for the school districts’ taxes collected and the state’s – one payment at the end of May and one at the beginning of June. The final settlement for taxes collected for schools and the state is due in July.
The rest of the authorities – cities, townships, etc. – receive their first-half settlements in June.
While they’re working on real estate and personal property taxes, Klecker also starts calculating the taxes for mobile homes in June. That has to be mailed out by July 15 and first-half payments are due Aug. 31. Mobile home taxes are calculated differently than permanent structures, Klecker said.
In between all that, Klecker and Olsonawski find time to distribute Payment In Lieu of Taxes (PILT) to districts that have state land.
Suddenly, as the summer ends, Klecker starts mailing out levy sheets for authorities to begin planning for the following tax collection year and budget season. All entities are required to submit a preliminary levy amount by Sept. 30 so taxpayer services can begin calculating for Truth in Taxation notices.
Levies are the taxes entities charge property owners to raise enough money to operate that entity. Cities, for example, will look at its regular cost requirements as well as special street or utility projects to determine if they need to raise more money or if they can keep the previous levy. If a city thinks it needs more money, they will submit a higher proposed levy by Sept. 30.
“Then, if they want to change their levy, they can only go down from what they certified in September,” Klecker said. “Then that has to be certified by Dec. 31. So if they don’t get me anything by September, I take the prior year’s levy. They still get money, they just can’t increase their levy and can still decrease it if they get something to us in December.”
With levy submissions, they send a report to the state Department of Revenue.
In October, the second-half tax payments are due for certain properties, and at the same time they are working on second-half tax estimates to school districts and the state. Second-half agricultural property taxes are due in November.
Typically, the taxpayer services office also handles tax forfeited property procedures. For the last few years, a lawsuit in Hennepin County has prevented much work on tax forfeited properties. Now that has been resolved, Kittson County will resume its annual tax forfeiture process.
“The process will commence in the spring, with the property sale taking place in the fall,” Swenson said. “There is no specific type of property that becomes subject to forfeiture; it is determined by the number of years taxes have gone unpaid.”
Throughout the year, the taxpayer services office also handles split deeds and deed transfers, as well as updating names on property. For this type of paperwork, they work with the Recorder’s and assessor’s offices. They process electronic certificates of real estate value (eCRV) and sales of real property. They ensure the deed tax is correct and that there are no delinquent taxes on the property.
“If there are delinquent taxes, they can’t process the deed. It has to be current,” Klecker said.
“If it’s a split deed, then the year’s taxes need to be paid in full.”
In the last few years, taxpayer services has also been working in a new tax software system called Tyler. For years, they used an old green-screen system called Avenu, which was navigable, but not up-to-date. Tyler is an internet-based system that allows easier navigation and online tax payments.
The annual renewal payment for the Tyler tax software was $48,975.
“We’re moving forward and with that comes a cost,” Swenson said. “And it’s an ongoing cost, so there are maintenance fees. When we renew with Tyler, there are various contracts with them too.”
The other contracts include ongoing technical support and modules to accompany the main software system.
Taxpayer services switched to Tyler as several of Minnesota’s counties were also switching to the software. Klecker is impressed with the program’s ease of use and that it allows the public to retrieve data on their own. Sometimes, she will have to walk people through the process of retrieving their tax information online, but once they do it, it’s easy, she said.
The software has also spared a lot of time for county employees. For example, escrow companies often call to request copies of tax statements and Klecker can direct them to the county’s website and most of the time the companies are willing to find the documents themselves.
Aside from paperwork and calculating, taxpayer services employees do a lot of explaining to ensure the public understands the office’s role. Many times, they have to send customers to the assessor’s office because they have questions on valuations. Sometimes the assessor’s office sends customers to Klecker, because really their questions are about taxes.
“We are always happy to explain the process to people,” Klecker said. “I encourage people to ask questions to make sure everything is right on their statements, because there’s always human error. So if you’re confused, come and ask. Just be respectful when you ask.”
The Taxpayer Services Office number is 218-843-3432. You can also email Klecker at aklecker@co. kittson.mn.us. Or stop by the office between 8:30 a.m. and 4:30 p.m. on weekdays.