Minnesota House Representative Paul Marquart (DFL), who hales from Dilworth, Minnesota, home to the historic Star Lite Motel, noted for its red neon sign and 1950’s architectural style, has served District 04B in the northwest corner of the state for nearly a quarter of a century; some ten terms.
The seasoned civil servant, who chairs the Minnesota House Taxes Committee, has always looked for ways to get the public more involved. “The people I represent,” certifies Marquart in a March 2017 Star Tribune article authored by columnist Lori Sturdevant, “want to know that their government sees them and is paying attention to their needs.”
“Before I became a state legislator,” recalls the 63-year-old social studies teacher in a recent phone interview, “I was mayor in the city of Dilworth, [a city with a population of 4,436]. It was in my role as mayor that I began to understand how important it was to get people more involved in the property tax process …make the system more transparent and more accountable.”
Following through on his “Robin Hood” ambition, last month–March 11th– Marquart introduced HF 4371, a bill, which if enacted into law, would require additional information be mailed with the notice of proposed property taxes, including what amount of increase in market value is attributable to new construction and the percentage change in market value on which the property taxes are based. It would also require cities and counties to provide a statement of budget information to the county auditor to be included in property tax notices.
The summary budget data must include:
Governmental Revenues Category
“Property taxes” defined as property taxes levied on an assessed valuation of real property and personal property by the city and county, including fiscal disparities;
“Special assessments” defined as levies made against certain properties to defray all or part of the costs of a specific improvement, such as new sewer and water mains, deemed to benefit primarily those properties;
“State general purpose aid” defined as aid received from the state that has no restrictions on its use, including local government aid, county program aid, and market value credits; and
“State categorical aid” defined as revenues received for a specific purpose, such as streets and highways, fire relief, and flood control, including, but not limited to, police and fire state aid, and out-of-home placement aid.
Current Expenditures Category
“General government” defined as administration costs of city or county governments, including salaries of officials and maintenance of buildings;
“Public safety” defined as costs related to the protection of persons and property, such as police, fire, ambulance services, building inspections, animal control, and flood control;
“Streets and highways” defined as costs associated with the maintenance and repair of local highways, streets, bridges, and street equipment, such as patching, seal coating, street lighting, street cleaning, and snow removal;
“Sanitation” defined as costs of refuse collection and disposal, recycling, and weed and pest control;
“Human services” defined as activities designed to provide public assistance and institutional care for individuals economically unable to provide for themselves;
“Health” defined as costs of the maintenance of vital statistics, restaurant inspection, communicable disease control, and various health services and clinics;
“Culture and recreation” defined as costs of libraries, park maintenance, mowing, planting, removal of trees, festivals, bands, museums, community centers, cable television, baseball fields, and organized recreation activities;
“Conservation of natural resources” defined as the conservation and development of natural resources, including agricultural and forestry programs and services, weed inspection services, and soil and water conservation services;
“Economic development and housing” defined as costs for development and redevelopment activities in economically disadvantaged areas, including low-interest loans, cleanup of hazardous sites, rehabilitation of substandard housing and other physical facilities, and other assistance to those wanting to provide housing and economic opportunity within a disadvantaged area; and
“All other current expenditures” defined as costs not classified elsewhere, such as airport expenditures, cemeteries, unallocated insurance costs, unallocated pension costs, and public transportation costs.
Unfortunately, the bill was introduced toward the end of this year’s legislative session and did not get a full hearing due to COVID-19 protocols. It was read and referred to the Property and Local Tax Division Committee, of which Marquart is a member.
“Last year when I started the tax committee,” explains Marquart, “I addressed the issue of accountable. I just think there needs to be more accountability, transparency and information provided. Getting people more involved would help to accomplish this.”
Lest Representative Marquart perceive this to be new territory for legislators, he only need review the proceedings of the Annual Conference on Taxation, convened in San Francisco, California over a century ago: August 1915.
Perhaps the most distinctive note of the Conference–other than the fact that it coincided with the world’s fair–widely seen in the city as an opportunity to showcase San Francisco’s recovery from the 1906 earthquake–was the emphasis placed upon the educational aspects of tax reform. “The most that can be done is to set people to thinking, and to bring before them the facts so they may think intelligently and see the problem from all sides,” was the opening salvo from National Tax Association President Samuel T. Howe, a member of Kansas’s tax commission, and whose father’s cousin was the inventor of solid head pins using a single strand of wire (for what it’s worth).
Executive director of the Minnesota Center for Fiscal Excellence (MCFE), Mark Haveman, weighed in on the proposed legislation: “In general, more information about the budgets that lead to tax increases is a good thing, and this bill would require more budget information from more local governments in one setting.
“The timing issues with truth-in-taxation would remain, however, as taxpayers would mainly be receiving information at the end of the budget process …at a point where any changes would be very difficult,” contends the author of numerous research and education publications on state and local tax policy and government finance.
“Truth in taxation” (TNT), for those who may not already be acquainted, is a process first enacted by the legislature in 1988 to enhance public participation in Minnesota’s property tax system. Proper procedure requires County auditors to generate parcel specific notices of proposed taxes for all parcels of property based on proposed local levies.
“It begs the question,” challenges Haveman, “of what a ‘truth-in-budgeting’ option for local governments would look like and what the timing of such an option would be …much earlier in the budget cycle?”
Such an option would decidedly go a long way in addressing Representative Paul Marquart’s deep-rooted aspirations for a transparent and accountable government.
Former Cook County Commissioner Garry Gamble is writing this ongoing column about the various ways government works, as well as other topics. At times the column is editorial in nature.
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