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State to emphasize assessing consortiums

Enhanced countywide system no longer being considered

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BY JOE POTENTE

jpotente@kenoshanews.com

The state is backing off a controversial proposal to impose a countywide assessing system across Wisconsin.

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Rather, the Department of Revenue is now developing a plan that would emphasize assessing consortiums among municipalities, similar to a system that has evolved over the last 15 years in Kenosha County.

Department spokeswoman Stephanie Marquis said the objective is to winnow the number of assessing bodies in Wisconsin from 1,851 municipalities to “several hundred” assessing districts.

The specifics of the proposal are expected to emerge within the next few weeks, Marquis said Tuesday.

Kenosha County Executive Jim Kreuser is pleased that the countywide bill has stalled. Kreuser questioned how counties would pay for the enhanced assessing system, which would require annual revaluations.

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In proposing the countywide system, the state sought to normalize property valuation standards while achieving economies of scale and eliminating the need for the Department of Revenue to calculate equalized values to bring properties to full market value.

Kreuser said he believes assessing consortiums would serve these same purposes without passing a new, unfunded cost onto counties.

“I think that’s a positive step forward to address issues that need to be addressed, asking for collaboration to occur in the areas where assessing has been faulty in the state,” Kreuser said.

Collaboration the norm

Collaboration has been the norm in Kenosha County since the mid-1990s, when the county ended a two-decade countywide assessing experiment.

Rocco Vita, a member of the former county assessing office, continues to oversee a consortium, led by Pleasant Prairie, that also includes Brighton, Randall, Twin Lakes and Salem.

Bristol, Paris, Paddock Lake, Silver Lake, Somers and Wheatland contract with Appleton-based Associated Appraisal Consultants Inc., while the city of Kenosha operates its own assessing department.

No lawmaker support

Marquis said the modified proposal that the state is pursuing is based on comments received in a series of town hall meetings over the last few months.

State Sen. Robert Wirch, D-Pleasant Prairie, said he was not surprised to see the countywide assessing proposal vanish, given that no lawmakers signed on to sponsor the bill.

“No one ever talked about it in our caucus; no one even put their name on it,” Wirch said. “So, politically, I think it was far-fetched.”

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