Once a disaster occurs, there will be an emergency response. Depending on the jurisdiction and scope of the disaster, this could involve other county, state, or federal officials. The county’s immediate response to the disaster is outside the scope of the process of applying to be a declared disaster area. Supplemental tips and information that may be helpful are provided in our "Immediate Response Tips" packet.

The process of reassessing damaged property for property tax relief and the application to the Executive Council is separate from anything done through FEMA or other relief from the state. However, in the immediate wake of the disaster, it may be unsafe to immediately start reassessing damaged property. The assessor’s office should prioritize planning and preparing for the reassessment immediately.

The assessor’s office should coordinate with whatever emergency management coordination is available to determine when it is safe to begin the reassessment. This can take time depending on the type and scope of disaster. All assessors and appraisers must be ready to begin the reassessment as soon as it is safe to do so. Property owners will be attempting to rebuild and move forward; however, it is the job of the assessor to capture the full extent of the damage.

Depending on the magnitude of damage, assistance from other assessors may be necessary. Jurisdictions may reach out to neighboring cities or counties to find qualified assessors to assist with the work. This may require certain arrangements between units of government (for instance, insurance on county vehicles when outside the county and salary compensation).

In order for the Executive Council to approve an application for a declared disaster area, there must be a determination of a disaster or emergency. This requirement can be met by one the following:

• A local emergency is declared under Minnesota Statute 12.29
• The president of the United States, the secretary of agriculture, or the administrator of the Small Business Administration determines that a disaster exists under federal law

If the disaster is severe enough that a federal entity has determined a disaster occurred, the jurisdiction is likely to have also declared a local emergency. For this reason, we recommend that the assessor’s office focus on the local emergency.

A local emergency is declared either by the chair of a county board or the mayor of a municipality and must be extended by the governing body if it is declared for longer than three days. The geographic scope and timeframe are established based on the determination of the disaster, either by the federal agency determining a disaster or by the local emergency declaration. The duration of the declaration will determine the timeframe that damaged property would be included.

Example: A severe storm impacts a county on June 1 and the chair of the county board declares a local emergency. On June 4, another storm causes severe damage to another part of the county. The full board extends and codifies the local emergency from June 1 - 5 for the full county. Because the local emergency was declared for the full county and the date range encompasses both storms, both storms could be considered together for the purposes of applying to the Executive Council.

As part of the assessor’s reassessment plans, the assessor should verify with the county board that a local emergency has been declared under Minnesota Statute 12.29 if the assessor believes that the jurisdiction will qualify for and apply to be a declared disaster area.

Any resolutions passed by the jurisdiction pertaining to the disaster should also be included as part of the disaster packet.

The most intensive requirement for a jurisdiction to apply to be a declared disaster area is the reassessment. Statute mandates that all damaged property within a declared disaster area must be reassessed, regardless of if it qualifies for disaster relief, is personal property, or is exempt.

When reassessing, “damaged” refers to damage that would change the assessed value. A property may be affected by the disaster, but if the reassessed value is unchanged then it is not considered damaged for property tax purposes. The only property not required to be reassessed by the assessor is utility property. Utility property is reassessed by the Department of Revenue as normal if the utilities apply for relief.

The reassessment should begin as soon as it is safe to do so and assessors should communicate with the jurisdiction’s emergency management personnel. The assessor’s office can inform them that a reassessment must take place for property tax relief so emergency management can inform the assessor when it is safe to begin the reassessment.

To receive a Local Option Disaster Credit or Abatement, affected property owners must apply. Property owners are unlikely to know the specific requirements to receive property tax relief, so we strongly encourage the assessor’s office to be proactive in reaching out to properties that qualify for relief.

As a reminder, any properties that meet the requirements for a local option credit or abatement must apply to the assessor and be approved by the county board to receive it. Assessors should make sure that property owners who qualify know about the application requirement and provide them with an application or information on where to find the application on our website as soon as possible.

• For local option abatements to be reimbursed by the state, applications must be submitted and approved by the November 1 deadline when the disaster packet is due to the state.
• The county board may approve or deny any local option credits or abatements. The board does not have to follow their abatement policy because this is a separate abatement in statute, though they may adhere to it or create a new policy if they choose.
• Assessors should help assist property owners in filling out the application, such as indicating that the property is in a declared disaster area (pending application to the executive council).

The Summary LODA-1 Form must be submitted as part of the disaster packet only if the county granted any local option abatements. The form declares the total amount of tax abated through local option abatements, broken out into local tax and state tax, and must be signed by the county auditor. The amount listed on the local tax section will be reimbursed by the end of the year in which the disaster occurred. The abatements are reimbursed directly to the taxing jurisdiction of the damaged property, so counties are required to submit a breakdown of the taxing jurisdictions with the form. The Summary LODA-1 Form is located in the Resources section.

A jurisdiction must officially request property tax relief from the executive council. For this, we have provided a template that the county board can use. The jurisdiction must pass this resolution or some other resolution officially requesting that the executive council approve the jurisdiction to be a declared disaster area.

Once all the items have been assembled, email the packet to the Property Tax Division at proptax.division@state.mn.us. The Division will review the packet and confirm to the jurisdiction that the packet has been received and all the necessary information is included. The Division will then present the packet on the jurisdiction’s behalf to the Executive Council at the council’s winter meeting. Jurisdictions are allowed to apply directly to the Executive Council; however, we recommend presenting the packets together to ensure that all requirements are met and to promote uniformity in the applications. Once the Executive Council has decided on the application, the Division will reach out to inform the county of the status.

The taxing jurisdictions will be reimbursed by the state at the end of the year in which the relief was granted.