HF 2354

as introduced - 89th Legislature (2015 - 2016) Posted on 05/18/2015 10:47am

A bill for an act
relating to taxation; property; requiring counties and cities to report additional
budgetary information; amending Minnesota Statutes 2014, section 275.065,
subdivisions 1, 3; proposing coding for new law in Minnesota Statutes, chapter
471.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MINNESOTA:

Section 1.

Minnesota Statutes 2014, section 275.065, subdivision 1, is amended to read:

Subdivision 1.

Proposed levy.

(a) Notwithstanding any law or charter to the
contrary, on or before September 30, each county and each home rule charter or statutory
city shall certify to the county auditor the proposed property tax levy for taxes payable in
the following year. new text begin Counties and home rule charter or statutory cities with a population
of 5,000 or more shall also provide the county auditor with the information necessary to
allow the public to electronically access the budget information required to be reported
under section 471.703.
new text end

(b) Notwithstanding any law or charter to the contrary, on or before September 15,
each town and each special taxing district shall adopt and certify to the county auditor a
proposed property tax levy for taxes payable in the following year. For towns, the final
certified levy shall also be considered the proposed levy.

(c) On or before September 30, each school district that has not mutually agreed
with its home county to extend this date shall certify to the county auditor the proposed
property tax levy for taxes payable in the following year. Each school district that has
agreed with its home county to delay the certification of its proposed property tax levy
must certify its proposed property tax levy for the following year no later than October
7. The school district shall certify the proposed levy as:

(1) a specific dollar amount by school district fund, broken down between
voter-approved and non-voter-approved levies and between referendum market value
and tax capacity levies; or

(2) the maximum levy limitation certified by the commissioner of education
according to section 126C.48, subdivision 1.

(d) If the board of estimate and taxation or any similar board that establishes
maximum tax levies for taxing jurisdictions within a first class city certifies the maximum
property tax levies for funds under its jurisdiction by charter to the county auditor by the
date specified in paragraph (a), the city shall be deemed to have certified its levies for
those taxing jurisdictions.

(e) For purposes of this section, "special taxing district" means a special taxing
district as defined in section 275.066. Intermediate school districts that levy a tax
under chapter 124 or 136D, joint powers boards established under sections 123A.44 to
123A.446, and Common School Districts No. 323, Franconia, and No. 815, Prinsburg, are
also special taxing districts for purposes of this section.

(f) At the meeting at which a taxing authority, other than a town, adopts its proposed
tax levy under this subdivision, the taxing authority shall announce the time and place of
its subsequent regularly scheduled meetings at which the budget and levy will be discussed
and at which the public will be allowed to speak. The time and place of those meetings
new text begin and, if applicable, the information necessary for the public to electronically access the
budget information required to be reported under section 471.703, new text end must be included in the
proceedings or summary of proceedings published in the official newspaper of the taxing
authority under section 123B.09, 375.12, or 412.191.

new text begin EFFECTIVE DATE. new text end

new text begin This section is effective July 1, 2016.
new text end

Sec. 2.

Minnesota Statutes 2014, section 275.065, subdivision 3, is amended to read:

Subd. 3.

Notice of proposed property taxes.

(a) The county auditor shall prepare
and the county treasurer shall deliver after November 10 and on or before November 24
each year, by first class mail to each taxpayer at the address listed on the county's current
year's assessment roll, a notice of proposed property taxes. Upon written request by
the taxpayer, the treasurer may send the notice in electronic form or by electronic mail
instead of on paper or by ordinary mail.

(b) The commissioner of revenue shall prescribe the form of the notice.

(c) The notice must inform taxpayers that it contains the amount of property taxes
each taxing authority proposes to collect for taxes payable the following year. In the
case of a town, or in the case of the state general tax, the final tax amount will be its
proposed tax. The notice must clearly state for each city that has a population over 500,
county, school district, regional library authority established under section 134.201, and
metropolitan taxing districts as defined in paragraph (i), the time and place of a meeting
for each taxing authority in which the budget and levy will be discussed and public input
allowed, prior to the final budget and levy determination. new text begin The notice must clearly state
for each city and for each county with a population over 5,000 the information necessary
to electronically access the budget information required to be reported under section
471.703. new text end The taxing authorities must provide the county auditor with the information to be
included in the notice on or before the time it certifies its proposed levy under subdivision
1. The public must be allowed to speak at that meeting, which must occur after November
24 and must not be held before 6:00 p.m. It must provide a telephone number for the
taxing authority that taxpayers may call if they have questions related to the notice and an
address where comments will be received by mail, except that no notice required under
this section shall be interpreted as requiring the printing of a personal telephone number
or address as the contact information for a taxing authority. If a taxing authority does
not maintain public offices where telephone calls can be received by the authority, the
authority may inform the county of the lack of a public telephone number and the county
shall not list a telephone number for that taxing authority.

(d) The notice must state for each parcel:

(1) the market value of the property as determined under section 273.11, and used
for computing property taxes payable in the following year and for taxes payable in the
current year as each appears in the records of the county assessor on November 1 of the
current year; and, in the case of residential property, whether the property is classified as
homestead or nonhomestead. The notice must clearly inform taxpayers of the years to
which the market values apply and that the values are final values;

(2) the items listed below, shown separately by county, city or town, and state
general tax, agricultural homestead credit under section 273.1384, voter approved school
levy, other local school levy, and the sum of the special taxing districts, and as a total
of all taxing authorities:

(i) the actual tax for taxes payable in the current year; and

(ii) the proposed tax amount.

If the county levy under clause (2) includes an amount for a lake improvement
district as defined under sections 103B.501 to 103B.581, the amount attributable for that
purpose must be separately stated from the remaining county levy amount.

In the case of a town or the state general tax, the final tax shall also be its proposed
tax unless the town changes its levy at a special town meeting under section 365.52. If a
school district has certified under section 126C.17, subdivision 9, that a referendum will
be held in the school district at the November general election, the county auditor must
note next to the school district's proposed amount that a referendum is pending and that, if
approved by the voters, the tax amount may be higher than shown on the notice. In the
case of the city of Minneapolis, the levy for Minneapolis Park and Recreation shall be
listed separately from the remaining amount of the city's levy. In the case of the city of
St. Paul, the levy for the St. Paul Library Agency must be listed separately from the
remaining amount of the city's levy. In the case of Ramsey County, any amount levied
under section 134.07 may be listed separately from the remaining amount of the county's
levy. In the case of a parcel where tax increment or the fiscal disparities areawide tax
under chapter 276A or 473F applies, the proposed tax levy on the captured value or the
proposed tax levy on the tax capacity subject to the areawide tax must each be stated
separately and not included in the sum of the special taxing districts; and

(3) the increase or decrease between the total taxes payable in the current year and
the total proposed taxes, expressed as a percentage.

For purposes of this section, the amount of the tax on homesteads qualifying under
the senior citizens' property tax deferral program under chapter 290B is the total amount
of property tax before subtraction of the deferred property tax amount.

(e) The notice must clearly state that the proposed or final taxes do not include
the following:

(1) special assessments;

(2) levies approved by the voters after the date the proposed taxes are certified,
including bond referenda and school district levy referenda;

(3) a levy limit increase approved by the voters by the first Tuesday after the first
Monday in November of the levy year as provided under section 275.73;

(4) amounts necessary to pay cleanup or other costs due to a natural disaster
occurring after the date the proposed taxes are certified;

(5) amounts necessary to pay tort judgments against the taxing authority that become
final after the date the proposed taxes are certified; and

(6) the contamination tax imposed on properties which received market value
reductions for contamination.

(f) Except as provided in subdivision 7, failure of the county auditor to prepare or
the county treasurer to deliver the notice as required in this section does not invalidate the
proposed or final tax levy or the taxes payable pursuant to the tax levy.

(g) If the notice the taxpayer receives under this section lists the property as
nonhomestead, and satisfactory documentation is provided to the county assessor by the
applicable deadline, and the property qualifies for the homestead classification in that
assessment year, the assessor shall reclassify the property to homestead for taxes payable
in the following year.

(h) In the case of class 4 residential property used as a residence for lease or rental
periods of 30 days or more, the taxpayer must either:

(1) mail or deliver a copy of the notice of proposed property taxes to each tenant,
renter, or lessee; or

(2) post a copy of the notice in a conspicuous place on the premises of the property.

The notice must be mailed or posted by the taxpayer by November 27 or within
three days of receipt of the notice, whichever is later. A taxpayer may notify the county
treasurer of the address of the taxpayer, agent, caretaker, or manager of the premises to
which the notice must be mailed in order to fulfill the requirements of this paragraph.

(i) For purposes of this subdivision and subdivision 6, "metropolitan special taxing
districts" means the following taxing districts in the seven-county metropolitan area that
levy a property tax for any of the specified purposes listed below:

(1) Metropolitan Council under section 473.132, 473.167, 473.249, 473.325,
473.446, 473.521, 473.547, or 473.834;

(2) Metropolitan Airports Commission under section 473.667, 473.671, or 473.672;
and

(3) Metropolitan Mosquito Control Commission under section 473.711.

For purposes of this section, any levies made by the regional rail authorities in the
county of Anoka, Carver, Dakota, Hennepin, Ramsey, Scott, or Washington under chapter
398A shall be included with the appropriate county's levy.

(j) The governing body of a county, city, or school district may, with the consent
of the county board, include supplemental information with the statement of proposed
property taxes about the impact of state aid increases or decreases on property tax
increases or decreases and on the level of services provided in the affected jurisdiction.
This supplemental information may include information for the following year, the current
year, and for as many consecutive preceding years as deemed appropriate by the governing
body of the county, city, or school district. It may include only information regarding:

(1) the impact of inflation as measured by the implicit price deflator for state and
local government purchases;

(2) population growth and decline;

(3) state or federal government action; and

(4) other financial factors that affect the level of property taxation and local services
that the governing body of the county, city, or school district may deem appropriate to
include.

The information may be presented using tables, written narrative, and graphic
representations and may contain instruction toward further sources of information or
opportunity for comment.

new text begin EFFECTIVE DATE. new text end

new text begin This section is effective July 1, 2016.
new text end

Sec. 3.

new text begin [471.703] EXPENDITURE TYPE REPORTING.
new text end

new text begin Subdivision 1. new text end

new text begin Purpose. new text end

new text begin In order to facilitate involvement of the public in local
government budgeting, municipalities shall provide the following budgetary information
on a municipal Web site and publicize the availability of this information as part of the
property tax and budget notices required in section 275.065.
new text end

new text begin Subd. 2. new text end

new text begin Definitions. new text end

new text begin (a) For purposes of this section, the following terms have the
meanings given in this subdivision.
new text end

new text begin (b) "Municipality" means a statutory or home rule charter city or a county with
a population over 5,000.
new text end

new text begin (c) "Population" means the population of the municipality as established by the last
federal census, by a special census conducted under contract with the United States Census
Bureau, by a population estimate made by the Metropolitan Council pursuant to section
473.24, or by a population estimate of the state demographer made pursuant to section
4A.02, whichever is the most recent as to the stated date of the count or estimate for the
preceding calendar year, and which has been certified to the commissioner of revenue on
or before July 15 of the year in which the information is required to be reported.
new text end

new text begin Subd. 3. new text end

new text begin Electronic budgetary information. new text end

new text begin (a) By July 31 of each year, a
municipality that maintains an official Web site shall electronically publish four years
of budget information on both revenues and expenditures organized by function and
expenditure type. The four years shall include data from the three most recently concluded
budget years and estimated data for the current budget year.
new text end

new text begin (b) The governmental funds included in the budget information required under
this section shall include the municipality's general fund, debt service fund, and special
revenue funds, except for special revenue funds specifically used for the acquisition and
construction of major capital facilities. The reported information shall also exclude
enterprise funds and fiduciary funds.
new text end

new text begin (c) The forms and reporting requirements for revenues and expenditures by function
shall be established by the state auditor's office and shall be based on the revenue and
expenditure breakdowns used by that office in the five-year summary tables for annual
revenue, expenditure, and debt reports for counties and cities with a population over
5,000 under section 6.75.
new text end

new text begin (d) The forms and reporting requirements for expenditures by expenditure type shall
be established by the state auditor's office and, at minimum, shall include the following line
items: employee costs, purchased services, supplies, central services, capital items, debt
service, transfer to other funds, and miscellaneous; with employee costs further subdivided
into the following items: wages and salaries, pensions, Social Security, health care, and
other benefits. The state auditor shall consult with the commissioner of management and
budget, city and county representatives, and members of the governmental accounting
community in developing the definition of expenditure types for reporting purposes.
new text end

new text begin Subd. 4. new text end

new text begin Alternative publication of budgetary information. new text end

new text begin A municipality
that does not maintain an official Web site must either (1) set up a separate Web site to
make accessible the budgetary information as required in subdivision 3, or (2) publish the
same information required in subdivision 3 by August 31 of each year in one issue of the
official newspaper of the municipality. If a county publishes the information in its official
newspaper, it must also publish the same information in one other newspaper if one of
general circulation is located in a different city in the county than the official newspaper.
The state auditor must prescribe the form for the newspaper notice.
new text end

new text begin Subd. 5. new text end

new text begin Penalties. new text end

new text begin Failure of a municipality to provide the information required
in this section shall result in the withholding of aids payable the following calendar year
under sections 162.01 to 162.14, 423A.02, and 477A.011 to 477A.014.
new text end

new text begin EFFECTIVE DATE. new text end

new text begin This section is effective July 1, 2016.
new text end