Local Emergency

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.