An anti-property taxpayer bill was approved by the Legislature and signed into law by Governor Doyle.
Assembly Bill 580 (AB 580) passed 94-3 in the state Assembly and 32-1 in the state Senate. I was the lone dissenting vote in the Senate on AB 580 and here’s why.
According to the Legislative Reference Bureau, under current law, if any property is assessed at a value that is different from the property’s value in the previous year, the assessor must inform the property owner of the new assessment. It must be done in writing, at least 15 days before the first meeting of the taxation district board of review.
Any taxpayer that receives a notice of changed assessment may challenge the assessment by submitting an objection to the board. The board then holds a hearing on the objection and, ultimately, decides whether the assessment is correct or whether the assessment should be changed based on the taxpayer’s objection. If the taxpayer does not agree with the decision of the board, the taxpayer may appeal the decision to the circuit court. If the court finds any error in the board’s proceedings that renders the assessment or the proceedings void, the court remands the assessment to the board for further proceedings.
AB 580 makes changes to the current procedure.
Under AB 580, the review board must grant a taxpayer a 60−day extension for a hearing of the taxpayer’s objection to a changed assessment. The 60-day extension is granted only if the taxation district has approved an ordinance authorizing extensions. The objecting taxpayers must submit a request for the extension and pay a $100 fee.
Here is another provision of the new law that is troubling. If the taxpayer challenges the assessment, the court will presume that the review board’s assessment is correct. That appears to create a court scenario that is unfair and biased.
Property taxpayers in Wisconsin already bear a heavy burden. Stacking the deck against them in court before a hearing even begins, assuming that the assessor is correct, and slapping them with a fee is bad public policy. The Governor should have vetoed this bill.
Here is a copy of the new law, 2007 Wisconsin Act 86.
