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INFORMATION MEMO <br />LEAGUE OF MINNESOTA Special Assessment Guide <br />CITIES <br />Discusses city authority to levy special assessments for local improvements like streets, waterworks, <br />sanitary sewer and more. It defines special assessments, gives a synopsis of the procedure, discusses <br />challenges by property owners, levying and collecting assessments, borrowing, making corrections, <br />and applicability to tax exempt and railroad properties. Links to complete set of forms. <br />The League thanks the following professionals for their contributions to this memo: Lee <br />Gustafson, Professional Engineer, City Engineers Association of Minnesota; Corrine A. Heine, <br />Attorney, Kennedy & Graven, Chartered; Julie Jeffrey -Schwartz, Certified General Appraiser, <br />President, Lake State Realty Services, Inc. <br />RELEVANT LINKS: <br />Minn. Stat. ch. 429. <br />See Section VIIL Charter <br />cities. <br />I. What are special assessments? <br />Special assessments are a charge imposed on properties for a particular <br />improvement that benefits the owners of those selected properties. The <br />authority to use special assessments originates in the state constitution which <br />allows the state legislature to give cities and other governmental units the <br />authority "to levy and collect assessments for local improvements upon <br />property benefited thereby." The legislature confers that authority to cities in <br />Minnesota Statutes Chapter 429. Court decisions and attorney general <br />opinions interpreting the statute add complexity to the issue. <br />A charter city may choose to use either Chapter 429 or provisions of the <br />charter to assess for local improvements but even so state law requires that <br />charter cities follow state law in certain steps of the proceedings, as <br />discussed subsequently. <br />To ensure full protection for property owners, state law and courts applying <br />that law insist on strict compliance with complex procedural requirements. <br />Because these requirements have legal implications, city councils should <br />have the city attorney guide assessment proceedings. <br />Special assessments have three distinct characteristics: <br />• They are a levy a city uses to finance, or partially finance, a particular <br />public improvement program. <br />• The city levies the charge only against those particular parcels of <br />property that receive some special benefit from the program. <br />• The amount of the charge bears a direct relationship to the value of the <br />benefits the property receives. <br />This material is provided as general information and is not a substitute for legal advice. Consult your attorney for advice concerning specific situations. <br />145 University Ave. West <br />Saint Paul, MN 55103-2044 <br />www.lmc.org 9/22/2011 <br />(651) 281-1200 or (800) 925-1122 © 2012 All Rights Reserved <br />