WAAO Working Group Meeting
Working Notes
Room 106
2811 Agriculture Drive, Madison
Thursday, December 16, 2004
9:30 AM to 11:50 AM

Present:
Bob Lorier Hallie Wendorff, Jean Gerstner, Tom Janssen Bernie Laird, Mary Reavey, Jennie Miller Jim Murphy,
Russ Schwandt, Dan Davis Reed, Johnson Paul Riehemann, Frank Humphrey,  Kathleen Isleb

Notes by: Jennie Miller

1. Frank Humphrey has been named Director of the Bureau of Assessment Practices. The Bureau's name and duties will be changing during the upcoming months. An outreach program will be developed to encourage compliance with filing deadlines. There are a number of municipalities that are habitually late in filing reports with DOR. Late reports adversely impact the work load of Equalization and Local Government Services. An updated State and Local Finance (SLF) organizational chart will be posted on the DOR website in the near future.

2. Jean Gerstner introduced Dan Davis as the Bureau Director of Property Tax. Dan has worked for DOR for 26 years primarily in the area of income tax. He was involved in the automation of income tax programs.

3. Frank Humphrey stated not all municipalities have met Statement of Assessment (SOA) December 1st deadline for filing. There is not a penalty in place for failure to meet the filing deadline. Seven municipalities had not filed by last week. The Lottery Gaming credit information is available on the DOR website.

SLF has identified 11 municipalities that are habitually late in filing required reports. An outreach program will be developed to educate the officials and encourage compliance. The Emergency Rule for Agricultural Use Values will be published on December 29, 2004 for the values effective January 1, 2005. The Emergency Rule will be in effect for 150 days. Reed Johnson briefly discussed the Guide to the Property Assessment Process for Wisconsin Municipal Officials. The Guide will be available on the DOR website in January.

4. Paul Riehemann reported the Integrated Property Assessment System (IPAS) project is moving along. The project charter and timeline are being developed to define the scope of IPAS. The system will be used by Manufacturing to improve efficiency and quality of assessments. The system is not intended to be used as a Computer Assisted Mass Appraisal (CAMA) system for local municipalities.

5. Mary Reavey asked what how Tax Appeal Commission (TAC) decisions are communicated to municipalities. In recent years, municipalities have not been notified of the decisions. Jean Gerstner stated Manufacturing will notify municipalities of TAC decisions. 6. Jim Murphy discussed progress on the Real Estate Transfer Return (RETR) Pilot Project. It's expected that once the Pilot is successfully completed more counties will quickly come on board. One of the challenges of this project is that not all assessors have email or web access. It's anticipated that assessors will be able to access the web at their local library or at municipal or county offices.

7. Mary Reavey distributed a preliminary draft of language to repeal Section 74.37. Comments should be sent to Pete Weissenfluh, Russ Schwandt or Hallie Wendorff.

8. Bob Lorier stated WAAO is in the process of pulling together an ad hoc committee on assessor certification.

9. The manufacturing audit report was discussed. Mary Reavey provided an update on the Legislative Special Committee on Tax Exemptions for Residential Property.

10. The next meeting will be held on January 20, 2005.