Abby Nadeau
Staff Writer

Between commercial, industrial, agricultural and residential property owners, no one was happy about their 2008 market valuation and tax assessments.

The Forest Lake City Council members Judy Bull, Bo Bogotty and Mayor Stev Stegner listened as property owners from all parts of Forest Lake disputed their assessments for two and a half hours on Monday evening.

Washington County Property Appraiser Jeff Satzinger, along with other county officials, were on hand to answer questions from the property owners as well as the council members.

Washington County took over all the property assessing in Forest Lake for the 2005 assessment year, which was last year.

Satzinger said that the first year the assessors concentrated on the properties around the lakes and this year have almost moved off the lakes.

He said that the goal of the county was to have all the properties in Forest Lake viewed and assessed in the first three years of operation.

However, according to the residents that approached the council, the assessors have not been doing their job.

Public angst

Terry Osterbauer was just the first of many residents who spoke to the council about their property assessments.

Osterbauer said he owned a small farm off of 202nd Street and he wanted to appeal the evaluation of his home because it was 63 percent higher than the previous year.

The council directed him to speak with the county officials in the room.

Satzinger said that in order for the county to make any changes to the 2008 assessments, they would have to revisit the property.

Many property owners who spoke to the council had seen their property taxes, and/or, market valuations increase over 10 percent. In many cases, the property owners had special case scenarios with their properties.

Lee Dugdale said he had 3.6 acres that are unbuildable increase significantly in the last seven years that he has owned it. He said in 2001 the property was valued at $5600 and in 2008 the property is valued at $90,000.

He said the largest of jumps was in the last year as it went from $32,000 to $90,000.

Bill Ulvin, who lives off of North Shore Trail, said he didn’t think any of the assessments around the lake were right.

“I think the whole appraisal around the lake needs to redone or thrown out,” Ulvin said. “You are our elected officials and we inherited you.”

Russ Mansmith, who owns Mansmith Classic Tree farm near the sportsman club in Forest Lake, told the council he was kicked off of the Green Acres classification.

He said he has a sliding hill and parking for his customers, but the county does not consider that in their Green Acres assessment.

Mansmith said last year he had spoken with Washington County’s Director of Assessment Taxpayer Services and Elections Kevin Corbid as well as Washington County Commissioner Dennis Hegberg, but no results were found.

“I was told that if I wanted to pursue this I would have to go to court,” Mansmith said. “So then this year they just done boost it up again. I just felt shoot, I’m gonna vent.”

Like the other concerned residents, Mansmith was directed to speak with the Washington County officials to set up an appointment for them to view the property again.

Assessing

the assessors

Two of the most prevalent real estate companies in the Forest Lake area approached the council about the property assessments they have seen in the area.

Mike Muske, from ERA Muske real estate company, protested two of his own properties that he believed were being over assessed.

He had spoke with Satzinger, but had still not resolved the issue. He was directed to speak with the county officials again and work with them to find a conclusion.

Muske then offered to help the county will any of their appraises.

“If we can help in any way, we would be more than happy to do that,” Muske said.

Shortly after Muske spoke, Kris Martin, from KellerWilliams, approached the council saying that “the taxes are not being done properly.”

Martin brought up cases around Forest Lake where homes were selling well below what their market valuation taxes were assessed at.

As a realtor, Martin said that “what the county is assessing them [homes] for is not even close to what I can sell them for. I really think a lot of lake shore property is being over assessed.

As Martin questioned the selling price of homes and area market values, City Administrator Chip Robinson said that “there are other factors than the price that drive the market.”

Martin replied, “we need to reassess Washington County assessing our property.”

Washington County officials will have the next two weeks to reevaluate the properties that were protested at Monday’s meeting.

Satzinger said any changes to the properties will be brought back to the council on Monday, May 14 in a special meeting at 6 p.m. at city hall.

Top of Page