Cook County residents are invited to hear one of the state’s leading experts on the property tax explain how the tax works in Minnesota, how it interacts with the state income tax and where Cook County tax burdens fall compared to other parts of Minnesota. Join Aaron Twait of the Minnesota Center for Fiscal Excellence (MCFE) for an in-depth look at this critically important tax, 6-8 p.m., Tuesday, April 4, at the Arrowhead Center for the Arts.
Following Twait’s presentation, Cook County Assessor Todd Smith will apply Twait’s explanations to the workings of the property tax in Cook County. Smith will explain how efforts to professionalize the assessor’s work, begun by his predecessor Betty Schultz, have affected significantly the assessed values of some properties.
This important tax workshop has a single purpose, said Jim Boyd, executive director of the Cook County Chamber of Commerce, which organized the workshop: “We hope to ensure that future discussions of the property tax in Cook County can focus on real issues and avoid those arising from misinformation, misunderstanding and myths.”
The workshop is made possible in part by the support of North Shore Title of Grand Marais, Two Harbors and Duluth.
The property tax, it has been said, is the tax “people understand the least, hate the most, and yet will continue to pay.” All three elements were on display last fall during the Cook County truth in taxation hearing and its lingering aftermath.
It is the MCFE which develops and publishes the “price of government” studies that have figured prominently in the work of former county board member Garry Gamble.
The MCFE mission is to make three ideas the foundation of Minnesota state and local government. Those ideas are:
1. Revenue collection should reflect the principles of sound tax policy.
2. Government spending should be efficient, transparent, and accountable.
3. Spending outcomes should be measured and evaluated.
Aaron Twait joined MCFE in 2003 as the group’s research associate, a position he held through 2006. He holds an M.P.P. from the Humphrey School of Public Affairs and a B.A. in history and philosophy from the University of Iowa.
Todd Smith was appointed Cook County assessor in September 2016. From 2015 to 2017, he served as assistant assessor. Smith is a Cook County native. From 1989 to 2001, he served as a staff assessor with Anoka County. From 2001 until 2011, he ran his own appraisal business. In 2011, he became assessor for the City of Grant near White Bear Lake.
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