Room 172
2811 Agriculture Drive, Madison
9:40 AM to 12:45 AM
Present: Bob Lorier Hallie Wendorff Jean Gerstner
Frank Humphrey Bernie Laird Mary Reavey
Jennie Miller Jim Murphy Russ Schwandt
Mickey Lehman Scott Shields Kathee Isleb
Mike Higgins Mike Kurth
Notes by: Jennie Miller
1. Jean Gerstner introduced Mickey Lehman the new Division Administrator of State and Local Finance (SLF). Mickey was in the legislature for 16 years and served as the Chair of the Ways & Means Committee. He is familiar with SLF operations such as TIF and Use Value.
Mickey stated SLF’s current projects include the electronic Real Estate Transfer Return (e-RETR) filing and the Integrated Property Assessment System (IPAS). These systems will improve the efficiency of our operations.
Mickey plans to improve communication between SLF and local governments. SLF and local governments need to take a team approach and be proactive rather than reactive to changes.
2. Mike Kurth discussed the billboard and use value penalty cases the City
of Madison recently won at the circuit court level. Appeals are anticipated on both cases.
3. Jean Gerstner discussed the need to define peripheral computer equipment under sections 70.11(39) and (39m), Wisconsin Statutes. Scott Shields of Assessment Practices will lead this effort. The WAAO Personal Property Committee’s assistance was offered to help establish guidelines.
4. Jim Murphy gave an update on the progress on the e-RETR Pilot Project. The project team is working on the input screen design, a rollout plan and an implementation plan. The goal is to eliminate paper copies by the end of 2005. The RETR information will be made available to assessors in a downloadable electronic format.
5.
Jean Gerstner provided an update on the IPAS project. Paul
Riehemann
is the project lead and Dan Davis will serve at the business unit lead.
The team is analyzing information and plans to release a
Request for Proposal in March with responses due in May. Selected vendors will be invited to
demonstrate their systems. A vendor
will be selected in August and the system will be in place for filing the 2006
M-forms.
6. Frank Humphrey discussed the impact of late filings
of Statement of Assessment (SOA) on SLF’s workload. Officials in municipalities consistently filing the SOA late over
the past five years will receive letters to raise awareness of the statutory
deadlines and offering assistance to meet the deadlines.
7. Jennie Miller stated Document Sales is shipping the
2005 Revisions and Supplement to paid subscribers. Software problems are delaying the conversion of Volume 1 to
electronic format. Once the file
conversion is successfully completed, a limited number of subscribers will test
the CD version prior to wider distribution.
8. Mary Reavey provided an update on the Legislative
Special Committee on Tax Exemptions for Residential Property. The chair of the Committee has decided to
continue to meet and has established subcommittees to explore additional
issues.
Additional
information on the Committee can be found at:
http://www.legis.state.wi.us/lc/2004studies/TAX/index.htm
9. Bob Lorier stated that the WAAO lobbyist is working to have legislation passed granting assessors the same trespass rights as surveyors.
10. Bob Lorier asked about access to the DOR sales database. Data from the e-RETR project will be available in electronic format by the end of 2005. The data from the IPAS project will not be available until a future date.
11. WAAO President Mark Schlafer is in the process of appointing a committee to work with SLF in reviewing assessor certification.
12. The next meeting will be held on Thursday, February 17, 2005 at 9:30 in the Events Room at the DOR Building on Rimrock Road.