About 30,000 property tax statements and assessment notices will be mailed to Douglas County property owners soon.

The assessment notices will let property owners know the estimate of the property’s value and classification based on the current use of the property, as well as appeal options if the owner disagrees, according to Keith Albertsen, Douglas County assessor .

The value and classification are as of Jan. 2, 2021 and used to determine the owners share of the property taxes, which they will be paying in 2022. Per state requirements, sales of properties between Oct. 1, 2019, through Sept. 30, 2020, are used to set values for the 2021 assessments, he said.

A tax statement, on the other hand, itemizes the property owner’s share of the taxes payable in 2021 and is based on the 2020 assessed values and classification using sales from Oct. 1, 2018, through Sept. 20, 2019.

The Local Boards of Appeal, which is listed on the assessment notice cannot take any action affecting the tax statement or the taxes that are payable in 2021, said Albertsen.

The estimated values shown on the assessment notices are based on sales activity that takes place prior to January 2021 and the estimated values shown on the tax statements are based on sales activity prior to January 2020, he added.

Albertsen said that an increased demand for homes in the area, as well as a steep spike in the cost of construction, have had a significant effect on values.

“Virtually every district saw increases in the 2021 values – for taxes payable in 2022,” said Albertsen. “Anywhere from 5-15% value increases were common.”

He also noted that the assessor’s office is often accused of increasing values to increase revenue but that the reality is that whatever is budgeted by the county board, school board, township board or city council will be collected regardless of what the values do.

“The values placed on each property are only a method to allocate each parcel share of the total tax bill,” he said. “If all values were to drop 50%, the tax rate applied to the values would simply double and the taxes collected would remain the same.”

He also said it is important to note that the assessor uses land and building schedules to value property consistently throughout the county and be relatively close to the sale prices. Because of the differing motivations of buyers and sellers, he said it is impossible to value all properties at their sale price.

“Sometimes our value is higher and sometimes it is lower,” said Albertsen. “Our first goal is to be consistent with similar properties in the same area and our second goal is to have our values close enough to the sales prices to meet state requirements. Some people think that because our values are used to distribute the property tax burden that they are supposed to be significantly low. This is not the case and the Department of Revenue monitors every sale in every county comparing the sale prices with the assessed values.”

If the assessed values are not within the 10% of the median sales prices in a district – middle sale when ranked in order – an adjustment to the entire jurisdiction will be ordered, he said.

Because of COVID-19, appeals must be done by appointment only. For property in the county, call 320-762-3884 or email assessors.office@co.douglas.mn.us . For property in the city of Alexandria, call 320-763-6678 to make an appointment for an appeal.

“We highly encourage property owners who choose to appeal to make their appeal in writing only to limit everyone’s potential exposure,” said Albertsen.

For those who are facing financial hardship, Albertsen said to visit www.revenue.state.mn.us and type M1PR in the search box. This is for a form that compares income with property taxes due on homestead property and to see if the person is eligible for a partial refund of property tax.

The local Board of Appeal and Equalization will begin April 13 and will run through April 23. Assessment notices will specify the date and location of the meeting for each district. An appeal cannot be made to the County Board of Appeal and Equalization unless an appeal was first made to the local Board of Appeal, which is either the city or township.