Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Board Procedures topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Board tightens owner-authorization rules for assessment objections; requires owner-signed agency form
Summary
West Bend Board of Review updated its procedures to require owner-signed agency authorization (PA-105) for objections filed on an owner's behalf and added a requirement that objection forms reflect landlord information and tenant leasehold improvements where applicable.
The West Bend City Board of Review on July 16 approved revisions to its procedures clarifying who may file objections to property assessments and what information must be provided.
The adopted changes align the board’s procedures with state statute language by specifying that an owner must sign an agency authorization for someone else (such as a tenant or tax representative) to file an objection on the owner’s behalf. The change strengthens the requirement around Form PA-105 (owner authorization) so the board receives owner commitments to provide requested information.
The revisions remove a prior paragraph that allowed acceptance of a lease as a basis for an objection and add explicit language requiring that the objection form be completed as a full and accurate representation of the landlord’s information and, where applicable, the tenant’s interest in leasehold improvements. Board members discussed an amendment that places this language in section D (completion of the objection to real property assessment) as a new D.1.
Board members and counsel noted the change addresses recurring problems in which tenants submitted objection forms that did not accurately reflect owner information or failed to provide materials only the owner could supply. The rules retain a limited exception for circumstances where a tenant’s improvements are assigned a separate tax parcel (for example, airport hangars or condominiumized improvements) and the tenant is not purporting to represent the underlying land value.
After discussion and a motion to approve the revisions as amended (addition of D.1 and the clarifying language in sections B.1 and B.2), the board voted in favor. The city attorney will finalize the language, update the document for future years and submit it to the clerk and assessor’s offices for posting on the city website.
The clerk and assessor were instructed to publish the updated procedures so they are ready for the next assessment cycle.
