Resident asks North St. Paul to reimburse $170 after Triple Crown management agreement triggered tax reclassification

Dennis Bartholomew, a local resident and manager of the Triple Crown site, told the City Council that a management agreement prepared by the city led Ramsey County to reclassify the facility as commercial and assess property taxes.

Bartholomew said that because parts of the 2023 contract described him as a lessee rather than a contractor and omitted elements of prior agreements, Ramsey County assessed the property as commercial. He said he paid the first-half property tax bill and filed with tax court to stop collection while the classification was reviewed. "The tax court filing...stops that after they have it, and then they will give you a date down the road," he said, explaining he had to pay a $170 filing fee that he believes resulted from the contract drafting error.

Bartholomew said he had a two-hour session at the county assessing office and a conference call with city staff (identified in the meeting as Dave and Ryan) and the county, and that County Commissioner Kelly Miller and her staff agreed the county would correct the classification to public use. He asked the city to reimburse the $170 tax-court filing fee because he said the reassessment stemmed from the management agreement language.

A council member thanked Bartholomew for speaking and said the issue would be discussed further by city staff and council. City staff told Bartholomew the county had already changed the property classification back to public use and that the county had said it would reimburse the paid taxes once the administrative process completed.

No formal motion or vote was taken at the meeting; Bartholomew requested that the council consider reimbursing the $170 filing fee and asked staff to follow up with him.